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Time for lunch

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted September 19, 2011143 views11 comments

Another photo from my day with a praying mantis. Bugs kept coming to the flower I placed him on. When he saw the bug he ignored me and caught his lunch. It was quite fascinating to watch! The exposure was tricky for me with this because of the brightness of the flower and the approach of dusk but still wanting to highlight the praying mantis. My flash lightened the flower too much so I tried to use some spot lighting instead but still wasn't real happy with it. I also did do a fair amount of editing in Elements to try to accomplish this. What do you think; does this photo work? I may have to try this again another day since the mantids are still hanging around.

Canon Rebel T1i. 90mm macro lens. F/14 for 1/20 sec. ISO 800. Tripod mounted. Remote shutter release. Wimberley Plamp holding flower on a separate tripod.

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on September 19, 2011 at 3:50 PM

The praying mantis really chose a great perch. Beautiful flower, tack sharp mantis = great image! Did a great job on lighting.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by David Schwaegler on September 19, 2011 at 8:12 PM

This image is great on several levels: Sharp, beautiful flower, and especially the big mantis looming over the tiny fly!

Registered on December 4, 2003, 232 Posts, 1652 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on September 20, 2011 at 1:31 AM

Caroline:
Don't know what you did with the light and exposure and pp but it sure looks good. I also like image that tells a story as in this one.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by Mauro Pasquero on September 20, 2011 at 11:29 AM

Great job, Carolyn. Beautiful setting for your nice mantis.
Mauro

Registered on January 21, 2010, 650 Posts, 2500 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on September 20, 2011 at 1:11 PM

Carolyn,
very difficult exposure very well handled and beautiful comp with the mantis approaching the insect. Well done.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Cole on September 20, 2011 at 3:29 PM

certainly an attractive and well executed image Carolyn. Maybe if you had photographed the mantis slightly more head-on it would emphasise the fact it is stalking the small insect, but I can also see that this side-on view shows off the mantis more effectively.

Matt

Registered on February 18, 2008, 17 Posts, 267 Comments

Comment posted by Christine Jackson on September 20, 2011 at 4:31 PM

Caroline,

Great Shot! Lovely colors, detail, and story line. Well done!

Chrisie Jackson
Denver, Colorado

Registered on September 19, 2010, 20 Posts, 244 Comments

Comment posted by Roger Leekam on September 20, 2011 at 6:20 PM

Carolyn, a very difficult image to capture & you have done it well. Some of the petals seem a little bit hot to me, but there is some detail preserved which you should be able to recover if you want.

Registered on May 28, 2009, 83 Posts, 646 Comments

Comment posted by Graham Brown on September 21, 2011 at 4:26 AM

I understand your problems Carolyn but this looks pretty good to me. There looks to be good detail in the flower - there are a couple of light areas where more detail could perhaps be brought out by selective processing but that's nitpicking. I like your composition and the colour palette is excellent. You've certainly frozen any movement and the image looks sharp throughout. Graham

Registered on November 20, 2007, 275 Posts, 1365 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Schwarz on September 22, 2011 at 9:57 AM

Nicely done. I really like the colors and the comp on this one.

Registered on November 29, 2006, 236 Posts, 1210 Comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on September 26, 2011 at 1:31 PM

Excellent shot- Like all the elements of this image: light, colours and BG- An awesome behaviour picture, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments