RUNNER-UP CATEGORY OTHER ANIMALS
Minghui Yuan | Spider in frame

Name: Minghui Yuan
Picture title: Spider in frame
Category: Other animals
Nationality: China
Occupation: University professor

Technical information
Camera: Nikon Z72
Lens: Nikkor  Z 105mm f2.8 macro lens
EXIF: 1/40 sec at f13 (+1 e/v)  •   ISO 1600

Minghui Yuan​ says:

In summer, the leaves of Victoria Regia Lindl in the pond of Xishuangbanna Botanical Garden have been cleaned up by garden workers. On the shore, I found a water wolf spider on the back of a giant Victoria regia Lindl leaf. The leaf veins of Victoria Regia Lindl form various frame shapes. The water in the leaf vein frame is like a mirror, and the shape of the water spider forms a reflection in the frame. This is a combination of graphics, lines, and points.

This kind of water wolf spider lives near the water, and sometimes they float on the water. This is due to their lightweight and dense hydrophobic hairs on their toes, which allow them to float and even run on the surface of water, supported by the surface tension of the water. Sometimes, the water wolf spider will dive underwater and form a large bubble and then rely on the air in the bubble to hunt and rest underwater. At this moment, the water wolf spider rarely emerged from the water. The moment when the spider occasionally came out of the water to breathe allowed me to see its whole body.

When I found this water wolf spider resting in the leaf vein framework of Victoria Regia Lindl, I was careful not to disturb it. Slowly approach it and adjust the shooting position. The light is a little dark, so I have to increase the sensitivity and exposure. Although the shutter speed is a little slow, I was able to capture the subject clearly with handheld shooting.