Argiope Aurantia Spider

A friend called me over to snap a picture of this spider that he found at his potted plant by the house. It's rather large compared to other species around here.

It was a very difficult shot as it was hiding and the ambient lighting was close to nil. Tried anyway, the spider was upside down, so I rotated the image. Most of the image was not sharp but it could have been worse.

Camera, lens and flash data listed below for those who are interested.

Camera Maker : Canon
Camera Range : EOS
Camera Model : 7 D
Lens Maker : Canon
Lens Model : EOS EF-S 60 mm f2.8
Aperture Used : F 11
Shutter Speed : 1/160 seconds
ISO Speed Used : ISO 100
Exposure Compensation : 0 Step
Focal Length Used : 100 mm
Metering Mode Used : Pattern
Subject Distance : Can't Recall
Flash Used : Yes
Flash Mode : Compulsory
Flash Maker : Canon
Flash Model : Speedlite 430EX
Flash Position : Off Camera, E-TTL
Flash Trigger : ST-E2 IR Speedlite Transmitter
Exposure Program : Manual
White Balance : Auto

Camera mounted on a home made bracket. Flash mounted on bracket handle attached to a flash ballhead. Homemade diffuser was used.

Who am I? Call me a photo enthusiast. A lover of good photography, a lover of macro and close ups and even a black and white fan. Let's all just snap away and enjoy nature as it is.