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Pholcus phalangioides (?) (Family: Pholcidae)
This spider is part of the “ecosystem” which was created in my tank room by mArachnidae/spiders nature. This ecosystem starts with the flying insects which lay their eggs in the water of my tanks. The larvae are eaten by the fish but some of them reach the final development stage and compete the metamorphosis to the final insect. Without these spiders my home would be full of them. These spiders will build their web close to the tanks and trap the insects almost immediately – I have seen an insect becoming a meal only minutes after it left the water surface. The main body of this particular spider is very small with very delicate and thin legs so anything but a macro lens will miss it altogether. I used my Tamron 180 mm macro lens for all those shots always trying to keep the subject in parallel to the sensor plane. In those photos you can see this spider shot from above, from below – with the feet joints clearly shown, hanging in the air and eating its prey. The use of flash is necessary to bring out the details of the spider since any photometer will measure from the background – the spider can hardly fill the centre of the image. The photos showing the spider from above and holding its prey were taken in aperture priority mode (manual focusing), while the Arachnidae/spiderss were taken in manual mode (manual focusing), using a high speed and the flash set to FP mode. In macro you are usually very close to the subject so you can safely use the FP mode any time, as long as you don’t use extremely small apertures.
Thanks to Michael Negrini for his help in identifying this spider.
Photos by George J. Reclos
Shooting Data:
1. Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO200
Shutter speed: 1/500 at f/8, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 iTTL
Image: cropped, sharpened and saved
2. Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO100
Shutter speed: 1/60 at f/11, Aperture priority
Flash: SB-800 iTTL
Image: cropped, sharpened and saved
3. Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO200
Shutter speed: 1/500 at f/11, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 iTTL
Image: cropped, sharpened and saved
4. Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO100
Shutter speed: 1/60 at f/9, Aperture priority
Flash: SB-800 iTTL
Image: cropped, sharpened and saved | 
