Ok - I am sorry to start another multi-part series right after beginning a different oe, but I found this little guy last night and really want to start sharing the photos. So I promise to get back to the assassin bug, but it will just be interspersed with this jumping spider.

I found this guy on a leaf on one of the plants out front. Because of where he was located, I simply decided to pinch off the leaf he was on and relocate him to the floor of our front porch. He had obviously just captured this insect (the legs were still twitching) he was starting to tuck into, so I wanted to be careful not to cause him to lose his meal. Apparently there was little risk of that. Over the twenty minutes or so that I was photographing him, he never once let go of it, and probably didn't ever stop eating (by the end, the bug was much smaller and shriveled).

As if typical for me these days, I shot these using the Speedlight 580EX II on a Siegelight bracket and Lumiquest Mini-Softbox and controlled wirelessly by the Canon 7D and my new favorite lens in the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro, and after a few initial shots with that setup - I usually toss in the Kenko 2x teleconverter. All told, the setup allows me to get shots that I never would have imagined possible before. The Canon 100mm lens provided some excellent image quality, and the image stabilization helps to let me shoot handheld (which I probably shouldn't do), while the flash allows me to stop down the aperture (often to f/16 or higher) for greater depth of field, and finally the teleconverter allows me get 2:1 (twice life-size) magnification.

What that all translates to is getting to see the culinary habits of jumping spiders in incredible detail - though I am sure there are those of you who don't think that is a good thing, but oh well. :)

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM with Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 "DG" AF 2x Teleconverter, 1/250 sec at f/16. Canon Speedlight 580EX II flash in auto mode and wireless control. Image Stabilization on. ISO 160. RAW processing in Adobe Camera Raw.

Stay tuned and I'll continue sharing shots of the assassin bug and this jumping spider.

- Bill