Mantis

[ucci]

Saw this fellow as I stepped out of doors and grabbed the camera. He was quite fortunate. Due to my inherent bumble footedness insectiva hanging around our door tend to have a high mortality rate. Combination of me just not seeing them and my big awkward feet. Their untimely departure to insect heaven is never an intentional act on my part.
Not sure about post #2. After cropping, which may have been a bit too severe, it almost looks a bit like a panorama-mantis on steroids. Either that or this is the rather rare V2 rocket mantis, not commonly observed due to its jet propelled, high speed velocity.
Thanks for viewing and for any comments you might care to make
old Ucci




Hello!



A low flying 'formula One' Mantis Drone

[Fit]

On the first- the subject should be sharper- head/eyes especially.

[ScoutR]

Hi Ken, I prefer #1, I like the way it is looking at you. Not sure if the focus is quite on the eyes, but it's still a great shot.

#2 just looks a little strange to me. I think you are right and the crop is a bit severe - maybe if he had some room to move?. It does not stand out so well from the background either. My feeling would be that as a documentary shot it's OK, but not really that interesting to look at as a photograph. The expression on the first one makes it rather cute to my eyes, which in turn makes me tend not to worry so much about technicalities.

However, I do know how hard it is to get nice sharp shots of these guys, so in that respect well done. I also think you had the right idea with regards to the angle in order to have focus for the length of the insect. I always find these shot interesting from a technical standpoint, especially with this type of background where it is so easy to see just how shallow the DOF is when shooting this close.

Wendy

[Andrew1]

Your comment about stepping on them suggest there are a lot of these around in your area. Try heading out a little earlier in the day when they are still a bit cold and slower. Look for them in locations where you can catch them in a more suitable background. You have good shots here but in my opinion a truer environmental setting would give you a better chance at a photo for framing.

[Bobobird]

#1 most certainly.
Andrew's suggestion is worth pursuing. They are not as skittish as other insects and you can take your time with time getting different perspectives/angels etc. Shake a leaf in front of them and they will even dance for you.

[FrankMi]

Hi Ken! It looks like you have a great opportunity, if these are common in your area, to get additional shots with a more complementary background, as Andrew suggests. You can usually pick these up and move them to more suitable conditions for shooting without them becoming agitated. Nice captures!

[ucci]

Thanks to all who commented with helpful advice. Unfortunately these chaps are not very common here and that is why it caught my interest and made me reach for the camera. This is only the third mantis I have seen around the place in more than 10 years. So they are not exactly over running our area at the moment. Got heaps of other creepy crawlies however. Anyone a bit light on for red back or huntsman spiders just give us a hoy and we can organize a few for you, no problems! Might be able to throw in the odd snake or lizard as well, no extra charge, as they say.
Cheers
Ken