Uploads from Thomas Shahan, with geodata

Female Jumping Spider - Phidippus regius - Florida

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:34:37 -0700

Click here for a larger view as flickr tends to over-sharpen these smaller thumbnails!

This apparently tipsy female Phidippus regius female (found by a helpful Guillaume Dury) was more than willing to pose for photos from several attendees at the 2012 Bugshot workshop. Given that one of my ultimate goals while in Florida was to find this exact species - I'm grateful that I finally got a chance to photograph one of North America's largest and most beautiful Phidippus species!

The image above is a single shot taken with a 50mm prime reversed on a set of extension tubes.

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If you're into macro photography, entomology, or just want to hang out in Central America - I'm proud to announce I will once again co-instructing a Bugshot, a macro-photography workshop with Alex Wild, John Abbott, and Piotr Naskrecki - this time in BELIZE! More information can be found here and here

Female Jumping Spider - Phidippus workmani - Florida - Bugshot Workshop

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:51:45 -0800

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Yet another amazing Phidippus species I had been dying to find while down in Florida while teaching the last Bugshot class back in August. Just look at those chelicerae! Phidippus workmani is within the P. audax species group - and although the males are relatively close in appearance to P. audax males - the females are just fantastically marked! This awesome female specimen was found by Josh Mayes, an attendee of the workshop.

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If you're into macro photography, entomology, or just want to hang out in Central America - I'm proud to announce I will once again co-instructing a Bugshot, a macro-photography workshop with Alex Wild, John Abbott, and Piotr Naskrecki - this time in BELIZE! More information can be found here and here

Male Habronattus sp. - Arizona

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:26:23 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Click here for a larger view!

**Update! 7/5/12 - I still don't know the species - but what's really important - he may actually not even have a name yet - more info hopefully coming soon!**

Yet another handsome Habronattus sp. from southern Arizona collected by a member of the Elias Lab! Haven’t had any luck tracking down an ID on this little guy so far – will update the title once I find out!

Note the variation in the setae that make up the patterns in his face - elongated wispy setae compose the pale blue while shorter, stubbier setae make the surrounding orange. In retrospect, I wish I would have attempted a higher magnification portrait as well to get a better look at the really thick iridescent pinkish setae bunched up around the eyes. Really a beautiful species – interested in finding out what he is exactly.

So – this was 2 shots focus stacked in Zerene stacker and then just a bit of a 3rd shot to get a little more detail in the palps. 50mm reversed on two sets of extension tubes and cropped. Shot him as he hopped about on dry leaves collected from the environment - the blue in the background is my shirt.

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In other news - I'm planning on producing a short series of how-to macro tutorial videos. If you're interested - go ahead and suggest any topics you'd like me to cover!

If you want to keep up with me and my work - feel free to follow me on twitter here: twitter.com/thomasshahan

Male Habronattus virgulatus Jumping Spider - Arizona

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 20:37:00 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Click here for a larger view!

I’m back! Just returned from a week with the Elias Lab out south of Tucson, AZ while they carried out their field research involving Habronattus jumping spiders. It was great to spend some time in such beautiful country with the company of fellow spider-fans that never seemed to tire of my endless questions and ramblings about salticids. The amount of beautiful and varied species we found was just overwhelming too – and I ended up taking quite a lot of shots – so expect to see more wild Arizona salticids around here soon!

This little Habronattus virgulatus male, after much coaxing, eventually allowed a few portraits to be taken of his beautifully colored face - despite his odd behavior of turning about 45 degrees every time I pointed the camera in his face. I suspect he was threatened a bit by my massive new 8x10” flash diffuser I’ve started using lately. The image is a pretty significant crop from a focus stack of 2 images (would have loved to have gotten a 3rd for the foremost legs – but he began to groom himself shortly after the above images) taken with an old SMC Pentax 50mm reversed on two sets of extension tubes.

So – stay tuned and I’ll be posting more species soon!

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In other news - I'm planning on producing a short series of how-to macro tutorial videos. If you're interested - go ahead and suggest any topics you'd like me to cover!

If you want to keep up with me and my work - feel free to follow me on twitter here: twitter.com/thomasshahan

I recently shot a segment with This Land Press about my macrophotography, which you can view online *here* or by clicking on the image in the comments below!

BugShot, the macrophotography workshop I will co-teach with Alex Wild and John Abbott in Florida this coming August, has now filled up - but go ahead and check out the website HERE to keep track of updates on where we will be next year!

Hummingbird Hawk Moth - Macroglossum stellatarum - Arezzo, Italy

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:32:21 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

As always, I'd like to apologize for the lack of postings lately. I’ve been quite busy recently and haven’t had as much time as I’d like to get out and shoot arthropods like I used to. Additionally, I’ve been in Italy for the past month and didn’t have my usual macro equipment with me. Be assured – more macro photos will come someday.

The image above is one of the plentiful and beautiful Hummingbird Hawk Moths (Macroglossum stellatarum) I encountered while in Arezzo, Italy. The shot was taken with my new Pentax Kx and an old 50mm f/1.4 prime.

To all of you who have been asking questions about my equipment or macrophotography in general – I apologize for my silence – I just can’t get back to all of you. If you are interested, I have an FAQ here: thomasshahan.com/other and additionally - a short video about my techniques here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqRn3at0H60

Female Ommatius Robber Fly

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:15:48 -0800

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Make sure to click here to view the larger image as Flickr's resizing creates moiré artifacts and dulls the brilliance of the compound eyes!

This beautiful little Ommatius female caught my eye one miserably hot day last August while I was fruitlessly chasing Holcocephala robbers around a swampy area. She seemed to be relatively unfazed by my presence and was perched atop a secure stick in the shade, so I decided to try for a few shots. After carefully clearing a little spot to sit near her and upon noticing how cooperative she was, I proceeded to spend the next hour watching her hunt. Due to my soft spot for the Holcocephala robbers of this area, I’d largely overlooked these pretty little (~11mm) asilids that occupy the same areas up until this encounter. She was an absolute joy to watch and photograph – leaping from her perch constantly only to reappear at the exact same perch seconds later – each time with a new pierced captive. She was so fast I could never see where she was going, but her lightning quick hunts always seemed to be successful. These Ommatius species must have fantastic vision.

As of writing this, I’m not quite sure which species she is – I’ve read that the only definitive way to identify robbers within this genus is to analyze the genitalia of male specimens. Visually, they all look quite similar to me. Here’s a great page from Herschel Raney with a bit of an introduction to Ommatius robbers: www.hr-rna.com/RNA/Rfly Another thing worth pointing out – the compound eyes were a beautiful deep metallic green to my eyes in the sunlight, but somehow my diffused flash picked up the reddish hue you see in the eyes above and below. Maybe I’ll have to try a combination of natural light and a fill-flash should I attempt to photograph this species again next summer. The image above is a crop from a focus stack of about 6 images taken with the 50mm reversed on a set of extension tubes.

Sorry about the infrequent uploads – I’ve been quite busy lately and after all it is winter here. Currently it’s about 10° F and windy in Oklahoma. If you’re interested in more things Thomas, head on over to my artwork account here: www.flickr.com/panbasket

...or if you’re really bored, I use this account for just documenting vintage illustrations: www.flickr.com/49580580@N02/

Adult Male Habronattus cognatus Jumping spider

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:14:09 -0800

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Click here for a larger view!

I apologize for the lack of posts lately - I've been quite busy. Rest assured, big news (don't get your hopes up just yet - just be thinking "NG") and more shots are on their way! For now, check out some of my more recent artwork: www.flickr.com/panbasket

Here's an old shot from last last May that I originally turned down in favor for this shot. I realize this type of shot may not be a big hit, but in retrospect, I prefer this composition despite the decreased magnification and hidden chelicerae. Here's the original text that accompanied the last post:

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Several weeks ago, I photographed an interesting looking female Habronattus at a spot near the Canadian River I visit frequently to look for tiger beetles. She looked quite different than the usual female H. coecatus specimens I can find relatively easily around Oklahoma, so I've been having high hopes I finding a new Habronattus male species every time I head out to the spot.

So, my persistence payed off, and after a rather unsuccessful afternoon of stalking the larger tiger beetles near the river, I spotted this little guy (~4mm) as he was watching a large caterpillar wiggle its way across the sandy path. I was exhausted and didn't feel like chasing him around in the sand, so I let him hop in a jar I had with me and took him on home.

Although not as flashy as some of the Habronattus species in the U.S., this little male H. cognatus is handsome in his own right - I love those intermittent, mottled scales on his chelicerae. He wasn't in the best cosmetic shape (missing scales/worn) but proved to be quite a lively and active spider that would only slow down when partially covered by the leaves I collected and set out to photograph him on. During the next bug-hunt, I released him at the excact same spot where I found him.

If you are interested in the Habronattus genus (you really should be) make sure to take a look at tolweb's entry here: tolweb.org/Habronattus

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Adult Male Phidippus mystaceus feeding on a Chrysopid - With Video!

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:59:53 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Click here for a larger view! and... Click here for the video!

And here is yet another fantastically beautiful male Phidippus mystaceus - discovered once again by the same friend who spotted this guy while out bug-hunting with me last October. Bear in mind that I had I spent a good three years searching for an adult male specimen of this species before he found that last one and he has already inadvertently happened upon two this fall. Bitterness aside, I'm quite grateful - these spiders are an absolute joy to observe and photograph.

There seems to be a fair amount of variation in the appearance of this species and the three P. mystaceus I've had the chance of photographing in this area of Oklahoma seem to be markedly different than other P. mystaceus I have seen in photographs (like this amazing male photographed by JH Carmichael in Texas for example). The image above is a slight crop from a single image taken with my 50mm at f/16 reversed on a set of extension tubes.

The females are possibly even more amazing - here is a small set of photos of an adult female I found a couple years ago: bugguide.net/node/view/231103/bgimage

Adult Female Cardinal Jumper (Phidippus cardinalis)

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 13:07:04 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Click here for a larger view!

Here's a beautiful and fairly large (~15mm) female Phidippus cardinalis I found a while back while wandering one of my favorite haunts.

She proved to be quite skittish and somewhat agressive - frantically darting around, waving her palps, and even baring her fangs at me a couple times. I ended up rolling up a leaf to make a little tunnel for her to relax in. In the image above you can make out the curl of her shelter reflected in her eyes. The blue of the background was yesterday's cloudless afternoon sky. Photographed with my 50mm at f/11 or f/16 reversed on extension tubes and focus stacked from 2 shots. The value contrast I usually strive for in my work isn't really here, but I liked the shot regardless.

Sorry for the infrequent uploads lately - I haven't had a lot of time for macro work lately, but be assured - more exciting shots are on their way (think Phidippus mystaceus...)

More artwork is up at my other account: www.flickr.com/panbasket/

Robber Fly with Prey (Holcocephala fusca)

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 19:16:37 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Click here for a larger view!

Here's another shot I've been sitting on a while - a feeding Holcocephala fusca robber fly from last June. I don't remember exactly, but I believe this was a focus-stack of 3 images taken with the 50mm reversed on extension tubes.

It's easy to see why these little guys are one of my favorite Asilid species - those beautiful compound eyes are just spellbinding - I spent just about all last summer trying to get another "really" high-magnification portrait (more so than last summer) but had no luck in getting the shot(s) I wanted. I can't stress how many hours I've spent chasing these little flies around the woods of Oklahoma to no avail - these are some truly skittish animals.

They are quite a joy to watch though regardless of their difficulties as a photographic subject - I'll have to get some video of their hunting and mating behavior some day.

Female Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola)

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:07:03 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Make sure to click here to view the larger image as Flickr's resizing creates moiré artifacts and dulls the brilliance of the compound eyes!

It may be a little soon (and potentially redundant) to post another photo of the same fly as before - but anything beautiful is worth more than just one look. Although this composition may be inferior to my last post - the extended depth of field allows for more detail. Here's the original description I wrote upon finding the fly 6/8/10:

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I'm not sure if a fly can be any more beautiful than a female Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola) and I doubt I could have found a more perfect specimen. I've been planning this shot for years now, and as I left the house heading out to my favorite bug spot the day that I took this photo, I thought to myself "how great would it be if I could find a cooperative T. lineola female today?"

And sure enough - almost as soon as I arrived at the park, I spotted a large female cleaning her eyes on the railing of the bridge I find salticids on! She was quite battleworn and uncooperative, and I gave up chasing her around pretty quickly. Soon after, another female landed nearby (the fly pictured above and below), and instantly caught my eye - she was smaller and cleaner with brighter, more deeply saturated eyes. I proceeded to photograph her from just about every imaginable angle and magnification I am capable of, and she sat cooperatively the entire time despite grooming her eyes and wandering about a bit.

It's worth noting that male Tabanids are completely harmless as they merely feed on nectar and pollen. It's the females (like the beauty above) that feed off vertebrate blood and have those wonderfully vicious scissor-like mouthparts that easily rip through human flesh. Despite the bad reputation, I haven't been bitten by one of these radiant flies yet - although that would make for a great photo should it ever happen. To determine the gender of large Tabanids - the males have compound eyes that touch in the center of the head (As seen here.)

To read more about the compound eyes of arthropods check out the Wikipedia page (featuring one of my photographs as an illustration) on ommatidium here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ommatidium

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Blue-faced Meadowhawk - Sympetrum ambiguum (With Video!)

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:31:27 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Click here for a larger view!

What a cooperative dragonfly! He found a perch at about eye level and didn't mind me moving in for several photographs. The background color is from a turning leaf I held behind the fly with my left hand while firing away with my right.

Taken with a 50mm at f/11 reversed on extension tubes and cropped from a focus stack of two images.

The video isn't specifically about the image above or dragonflies - but a brief introduction to high magnification macro photography. I just thought some of you might like to see my equipment and see me at work - so - click here to see the video.

Adult Male Phidippus putnami Jumping Spider

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:03:04 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Click here for a larger view!

Here's another one of those shots I've been planning on taking for years - and now I've gotten it - full frame as well! My daily wanderings paid off a couple days ago as I was making my way along a trail (following a large robber fly). A little form on the railing of a wooden bridge caught my eye from about 20 feet away, and as I took a couple steps closer - it spun around to greet me and I immediately recognized the face as an adult male Phidippus putnami.

These adult males have to be some of the wildest and hairiest spiders out there - the markings and tufts of hair are just unparalleled (excluding some of the really wild Habronattus species out west).

The image above is a full-frame focus stack of 2 images (with a significant gap - but perfectly aligned) taken with my relatively new 10 dollar vintage Pentax-M f/2 50mm lens (at f/11 or f/16) reversed on a set of extension tubes extension tubes.

Eye Arrangement of a Hogna Wolf Spider

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:58:48 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Unfortunately I still don't know the gender or species of this spider - but am confident that it's in the Hogna genus given the markings and eye arrangement.

Lycosid eyes may not be as clear or reflective as salticid eyes, but their arrangement is just as fascinating and wolf spiders supposedly have pretty good vision (although not nearly as applauded as the jumping spiders). A couple of times while photographing the spider seen above, his/her eyes would light up at certain angles just as cat eyes do in the dark - really on odd sight to see a spider with glowing eyes!

The image above was stacked from 5 photos using Zerene Stacker. The shots were taken at about 4:1 magnification with a vintage Pentax Takumar 28mm prime reversed to a set of extension tubes.

Robber Fly (Holcocephala fusca)

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:50:53 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

My favorite little robber flies are back! They still aren't easy to shoot, but those eyes are always worth the struggle. Out of the 200 shots I took yesterday, only a handful were good enough to do anything with. These little flies are just ~5mm long and incredibly skittish, making them a particularly tough subject to shoot.

Despite their size, they're just as vicious hunters as their larger cousins - taking down just about any flying and non-flying prey their size or less.

Female Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola)

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:48:58 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Click here to view the larger image as Flickr's resizing creates moiré artifacts!

I'm not sure if a fly can be any more beautiful than a female Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola) and I doubt I could have found a more perfect specimen. I've been planning this shot for years now, and as I left the house heading out to my favorite bug spot the day that I took this photo, I thought to myself "how great would it be if I could find a cooperative T. lineola female today?"

And sure enough - almost as soon as I arrived at the park, I spotted a large female cleaning her eyes on the railing of the bridge I find salticids on! She was quite battleworn and uncooperative, and I gave up chasing her around pretty quickly. Soon after, another female landed nearby (the fly pictured above and below), and instantly caught my eye - she was smaller and cleaner with brighter, more deeply saturated eyes. I proceeded to photograph her from just about every imaginable angle and magnification I am capable of, and she sat cooperatively the entire time despite grooming her eyes and wandering about a bit.

It's worth noting that male Tabanids are completely harmless as they merely feed on nectar and pollen. It's the females (like the beauty above) that feed off vertebrate blood and have those wonderfully vicious scissor-like mouthparts that easily rip through human flesh. Despite the bad reputation, I haven't been bitten by one of these radiant flies yet - although that would make for a great photo should it ever happen. To determine the gender of large Tabanids - the males have compound eyes that touch in the center of the head (As seen here.)

To read more about the compound eyes of arthropods check out the Wikipedia page (featuring one of my photographs as an illustration) on ommatidium here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ommatidium

...and it's possible I may upload some new artwork on my other account soon:

www.flickr.com/panbasket

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The image above is a manual focus stack of two images taken at f/11 with an SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/2.0 prime lens reversed to a set of extension tubes on a Pentax K200D.

Female Blue Dasher Dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis)

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:12:26 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

While wandering about one of my favorite bug-hunting areas, and after an hour or two of unsuccessful attempts at photographing female horseflies, I decided to try my luck with some of the dragons hanging out near a creek. It took a good 10 minutes of chasing this little female Blue Dasher around before she finally found a perch solid enough for her to feel confident on. Once she had a grip on a downed tree limb, I moved in for some higher magnification photos. Like all skimmers she was fairly skittish, fluttering off if I advanced too quickly, but would always would return to her new perch after a few moments.

The image above is an uncropped, full-frame focus stack from 4 photos taken at f/11 with a newly acquired 10 dollar (!) vintage Pentax-M f/2 50mm lens reversed on my extension tubes. The lens is a possible replacement for my battle-worn Pentax-M f/1.7 50mm which has a loose barrel as a result of it being continually reverse mounted. Not sure if this f/2 is as sharp, but I'm not too worried about it. The vignette present in the image is a natural result of me angling the shot so a bit of sky would silhouette her head.

Portrait of a Wolf Spider in the Hogna Genus

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:34:18 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

This beautiful Lycosid was found between some boards in my ceramics class. ID and description coming soon...

The image above is crop from a manual focus stack of 5 shots taken with my vintage Asahi Taukumar 50mm prime lens reversed on a set of extension tubes.

Adult Male Habronattus cognatus Jumping spider

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:03:29 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

Several weeks ago, I photographed an interesting looking female Habronattus at a spot near the Canadian River I frequently visit to look for tiger beetles. She looked quite different than the usual female H. coecatus specimens I can find relatively easily around Oklahoma, so I've been having high hopes I finding a new Habronattus male species every time I head out to the spot.

So, my persistence payed off, and after a rather unsuccessful afternoon of stalking the larger tiger beetles near the river, I spotted this little guy (~4mm) as he was watching a large caterpillar wiggle its way across the sandy path. I was exhausted and didn't feel like chasing him around in the sand, so I let him hop in a jar I had with me and took him on home.

Although not as flashy as some of the Habronattus species in the U.S., this little male H. cognatus is handsome in his own right - I love those intermittent, mottled scales on his chelicerae. He wasn't in the best cosmetic shape (missing scales/worn) but proved to be quite a lively and active spider that would only slow down when partially covered by the leaves I collected and set out to photograph him on. During the next bug-hunt, I released him at the excact same spot where I found him.

If you are interested in the Habronattus genus (you really should be) make sure to take a look at tolweb's entry here: tolweb.org/Habronattus

Some of my more recent artwork (including a Phidippus audax woodcut!) is up here: www.flickr.com/panbasket

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If any of these images look odd on your monitor (too dark/oversaturated/strange hue) please speak up. I'm editing on a new monitor and am not fully used to it yet.

Thomas Shahan Arthropod Puzzles at Target!

nobody@flickr.com (Thomas Shahan) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:00:08 -0700

Thomas Shahan posted a photo:

I guess I'm officially a "sell-out" now... but this is just too cool not to share with everyone. There are actually puzzles featuring my photographs being sold at Target stores all across the U.S. !

I'm not sure how much longer they will be in stores, but if you are interested, go check any nearby Target and they should have them in their 1 dollar item section. Go buy the stores out of them, I don't think they will be around for long!

Don't get the wrong idea - I didn't make much money off this deal - I'm just excited just to have puzzles with my images on them and the fact that a product featuring a salticid was sold nationwide!

For those of you that could care less about this - the warmer months are returning and I should get back to posting new photos soon! :)