Waiting for things to happen in Macro work

I always believe in the 3-P's in macro work that make you a better photographer; Patience, Persistence and Practice. Patience will be the focal point of this discussion. Let me walk you through this scenario with the image results and convince you of the advantages of waiting out for moments like this to happen.

This happened while I was in Sri Lanka..where I saw a small spider on the edge of the front porch of my house. So, obviously I quickly grabbed my camera and laid down right in front of the spider and started snapping away. Here's one of the results...

Once I have taken some of the safe shots I noticed something interesting... :) I saw  an ant walking on a path that lead straight to the spider. Of course I had to wait for this moment to really happen.. so it took some patience to be in that uncomfortable position for this little guy to meet the spider. But I also need to use my experience (gained through Practice,, another P) as well to make this shot. Specially with the very shallow depth of field involved with macro work, I had to get everything right in order to get the very instance they meet (which might be a full second at most). So, I increased my aperture to get the maximum depth of field I could and then focused on the eyes of the spider and held it in place, waiting for them to meet up. Heres the result I got after all that effort.

 

This in my view makes a much more compelling picture. BTW the ant simply paused for less than a sec (shot right then) and went around the spider. With a suitable title such as "Get out of the way big guy!", this makes your work even more rewarding. So when dealing with insects like I do, always expect the unexpected; be ready to make the shot; and wait for something to happen. You can thank me later for that :D 

Please note that all pictures are copyrighted and are not to be used without the author's consent. 

Thanks

Akila.