Zebra jumping spider

This one lived on our garden fence for at least two weeks. Jumping spiders are the best bugs to photograph because they actually look back at you — those two big front eyes track the lens, and if you move slowly they get curious instead of running away.

I got down to fence height and waited until it turned toward me. The flash with the diffuser froze it completely — without flash at 1:1 everything is a blurry mess, even in sunlight. Focus is on the front eyes; at f/11 the depth of field is only about two millimetres, so the back of the spider already goes soft.