Well I found a big old toad doing my pruning last week end!...lol...What an excellent close up of this icky spider!!! Perfect focus and great color!
Joanie

Oh my, oh my, eeeeek! Other than the sheer creepiness of the spider, the shot itself is amazing. Great clear close up.

Very good spider picture,good clarity as well.

Great close up of this icky spider! Very good clarity and color!

What a beauty! Is it a friendly spider, that pretends to be horribly poisonous with its yellow and black markings, or is it highly venomous?

Had an interesting conversation with my son at breakfast this morning about spiders: including whether you could 'domesticate' a spider (make a change from a guard dog don't you think), and secondly, whether a Tarantula is the most deadly. I suggested that it the qualifier 'most' deadly was a little vague, since any spider that could knock you down with one bite (and the difference in morbidity rates being in seconds) wouldn't make much difference the the eventual result to the happless human.

Looking at various Google references to the Argiope, looks like you've got a friendly neighbour in your garden.

What a great close up of this spider Trina. They are very intimidating but at least they are easily seen before one walks into the web.