I know I promised a change from macro shots but this praying mantis was on the wall outside my front door today, and I couldn’t resist. He stayed put when I got my camera out, definately tilting his head to look at the lens as I pointed it towards him. I used my popup flash for some fill in light, and luckily it didn’t scare him away.
Praying Mantis
The above shot is taken with my 7D and my 100mm macro lens. I have increased the ISO up to 320 and used the popup flash for some fill in light, because even tho it was a bright day, when you get the camera up close it blocks out a lot of the light. Processed in LR4 to brighten up a bit and add a bit of punch.
Focus on the jaw and mandibles – click to see the tiny hair detail on a bigger image
When you are shooting at F2.8 your DOF is very very narrow, on the image above I focussed on the jaw and mandibles and when you view at 100% crop you can see tiny hair detail on them. This lens is amazing and everytime I use it I am so pleased 🙂
Learning to See Light 
I took a close-up of the jaw and mandibles of a praying mantis who was a willing model – when blown up they look like monsters with that equipment! But I love having them around my property. I got an egg sack years ago from someone’s garden and now they are all over eating up pesty little insects.
Thats what I like so much about macro, it opens up an entirely new world for us. Don’t know if my mantis was here to stay but I am glad he stopped and posed for me 🙂
Creepy looking, but great shot.
Thanks, not as creepy as spiders or flies with their faceted eyes and whiskery bits 🙂
Loved your pics
Thankyou, I enjoyed the opportunity to take them 🙂
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