Preparing and imaging spiders in EtOH

(like this one) ->

Preparing

Empty specimen(s) into petri dish

I prefer to pose spiders over sand. Fill the sand dish with 70% EtOH, enough to cover the specimen completely.

Gently transfer the specimen with forceps to the sand dish. You want the specimen completely submerged as to not get air bubbles in your final image.

(much unlike this photo)

Lens & Lighting

The 5D (using 65mm lens) along with the umbrellas positioned as shown in the next slide tend to work best.

So far all of my images have been taken with the 5D/65mm combo.

This is the 5D, with the 65mm lens at a 5.6 aperture.

Lens & Lighting continued

This is my lighting setup. So far it hasn’t failed me!

The Dynalite settings vary depending on the specimen & camera zoon.

And now, the end result…. (big scary spider warning)

Castianeira c.f. variata, dorsal

Castianeira c.f. variata, ventral

Drassylus mexicanus

Habronattus icenoglei

Hololena hola, dorsal

Hololena hola, ventral

Arctosa littoralis, dorsal

Arctosa littoralis, ventral

Synema sp. dorsal

Synema sp. ventral

Xysticus apachecus

Xysticus gosiutus, dorsal

Xysticus gosiutus, ventral