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The standoff (repost)
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The standoff (repost)

by Andrius Pašukonis

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted April 6, 201399 views7 comments
I haven't posted for quite a while and I'm pretty new to macro in general but I'm working on it. I've been staying in French Guiana for a few months and there's a lot happening at the macro level here! I recently captured this standoff between a beautiful mantis and a dining spider.

Canon EOS 40D + Tokina 100mm f6.3 1/60s
tripod and maybe some fill flash? Cant remember...

Comments and critiques are very welcome!

Comments

7 comments
Comment posted by scott lanz on April 7, 2013 at 8:01 AM
Andrius, Great catch of the action! You did very well to align the plane of focus to get both the mantis and the spider in focus. I also like the nicely balanced comp. My only nit is with some of bright, contrasty areas. I can't tell if the vegetation was wet and then the flash produced reflections? I believe there are post processing polarizing type filters that may reduce the reflections, but I am not familiar with the technique personally. Maybe someone else can help. You could also try to zoom in and burn and/or clone some of those specific areas, like the bright area in the background above the spider. This image is quite good and well worth a bit of post processing tweaking to make it even stronger. :toast: :wavey:
Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments
Comment posted by Andrius Pašukonis on April 7, 2013 at 11:59 AM
Hi Scott and thanks for your comment. The vegetation was definitely wet and the light was getting a bit harsh so I think I used a bit of fill flash, which maybe wasn't a good idea... I'll try to play around with some post processing, thanks for tips!
Registered on July 23, 2005, 111 Posts, 408 Comments
Comment posted by Balan Vinod on April 8, 2013 at 7:56 AM
Beautiful action here ...I want to follow this image to see what the others say, as I may want to crop this a tad bit tighter. beautiful piece of work ..liked this one..

Balan Vinod
Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments
Comment posted by Andrius Pašukonis on April 8, 2013 at 8:53 PM
Well, I'm not very patient with post processing but I gave my shot. Do you think it improves the image? Do you think its maybe overdone? Appreciate your input!
Registered on July 23, 2005, 111 Posts, 408 Comments
Comment posted by scott lanz on April 9, 2013 at 9:40 AM
Very nice work on the repos, Andrius, and well worth the effort in my opinion. :toast:
Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments
Comment posted by Albert Darmo on April 11, 2013 at 10:57 PM
Hi Andrius :wavey: This is a fine action shot, i like the interaction between the insects. instead of commenting on the highlights. i see the repost .... and see a much better and stronger image :cool: :smile:
Albert Darmo
Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments
Comment posted by Eirini Pajak on April 14, 2013 at 2:55 PM
Super neat shot! I love the action you caught here & the repost is a great improvement!
Registered on December 13, 2011, 216 Posts, 1671 Comments