Praying Mantiss

Hi Guys,

Just returned from a week in Southern France where i hosted a photographic holiday. One of the species i was most interested in was the Praying Mantiss and i was glad to have found several of them.

Here's a shot of one in the beautiful French landscape..

Greetings,

Jeroen Stel

Canon Eos 1D Mark 3
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
Aperture: F 11
Exposure mode: AV
Exposure compensation: - 1
Flash:no
Flash exposure compensation: -
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: AI Focus
ISO: 400
Lens: Sigma 17-35mm F2.8 @ 31mm
Focal length:31mm (incl. crop factor)
AF mode: Auto Focus
Placed at ground level
Levels/Curves/USM/Contrast/Saturation/Noise Ninja/Homemade mix-Sharpening
Bibble Pro/Adobe Photoshop CS 4

_________________
Good things come to those who wait...
Golden rule in Nature & Wildlife Photography

www.jeroenstel.com
http://jeroenstel.blogspot.com/

Nice shot of a cracking creature Jeroen, though the Mantis does look a little out of place.

Andy...

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your comment. This is however the place where i found the Mantiss, so no manipulation here..

Greetings,

Jeroen Stel

It looks like some sort of alien addressing the masses - very well done.

Andy

I don't doubt that for a second Jeroen and I wasn't suggesting that the Mantis had been moved

Andy...

well taken Jeroen, I do like wideangle 'macro' shots of this type.

Matt

I can understand Andy's comment, the mantis does look very exposed and out of place. However, having found them in exactly this environment in Southern France myself, that is exactly where it occurs. I really like this shot, Jeroen. The treatment works well.

David

Like this very much Jeroen. I too can understand Andy's comment, as I have found them in trees etc. elswhere, but I guess the French mantis have other ideas

Very nice indeed!

Fran

Hi Jereon

My initial impression was that it looked 'out of place' but I really like the image especially now you and David have confirmed this is where you find them in this part of France!

David

Love the composition and the sense of space it gives the image,beautiful pose and colours in the subject,very different and works for me

I keep returning to this and it does have something 'sci-fi' about it and it does look out of place in my opinion since this is one of the 'ambush' predators and the colour helps it to blend in with it's environment which is dense undergrowth and scrub usually. However, they do stray away sometimes but this really opens them up to predation themselves. In terms of an environmental shot I think I would prefer it in 'it's environment' i.e. among plants and awaiting the prey.

Kind regards,

Brett

Different shot of a mantis. Kind of reminds me of a brandt style shot...although is a different environment.

Ian