One Of The Good Guys

[GoDawgs]

I've been seeing these spiders hanging out on the zinnias and a few other things so I had to take a pic and look it up. It's a Green Lynx Spider and although it eats some beneficial bugs, it munches on cabbage loopers and other bad ones so it's welcome in the garden. It looks like it's having lady bug for dinner.

[brownrexx]

What a beautiful spider. Isn't nature a great artist?

[bower]

Wow, that is a super pic! Thanks for sharing.

[GoDawgs]

Thanks! I love this little camera! It's a Canon PowerShot A1300 that I've had a long time. It only cost $125 then and was just what I was looking for as it runs on two ordinary AA batteries (I didn't want lithium), fits in my pocket and has an old fashioned viewfinder as well as the display screen on the back. That viewfinder comes in so handy when I'm trying to frame a shot and can't see anything on the display because of the sun.

The zoom is a bit testy now and only extends half way. There's probably a tiny grain of sand in there gumming up the works but I've gotten used to holding the camera close to these insects using one hand and holding my breath before snapping the shot. The old Army rifle training concept of BRAS, "Breathe (out), Relax, Aim, Squeeze (the trigger)". I can still hear the instructor hollering, "Think BRAS, people!"

And the iPhoto program on this Apple computer does a great job of adjusting exposure, contrast, etc.

[bower]

BRAS, that's brilliant!
I have a clunky little LUMIX that I use for all my pic taking, which I can hold steady enough to usually get a clear shot among many not so good. When I first got a cellphone I tried taking pics but it was useless. There is too much 'recoil' when I press the button and wobbles out my photo every time. The heavier lumix seems to help this old wobbler.