Ambush Bug

[Nancy Bell]

I discovered this Ambush Bug while arranging a bouquet of wild sunflowers. I totally forgot about my flower arrangement and tried to capture a good image of the insect. It turned out to be harder than I expected. I used live view, magnified x10, but found it very hard to get a precise focus. It was difficult to adjust the lens ring in very minute movements. It does help that these are very patient insects and sit motionless for long periods of time. The front end of this Ambush Bug makes me think of a really, really tiny dinosaur! Note the huge front leg that is used to grasp prey. I was also impressed by how well it is camouflaged on the sunflower.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100 f2.8 macro, tripod, natural light, 1/25, f9, ISO 1600, manual exposure and manual focus. I also used extension tubes, 36mm & 20mm.

C & C most welcome.

[Mitch Haimov]

Another winner, Nancy. Interesting subject with which I am not familiar. Good sharpness and pollen grains add interest. I initially thought the petals, particularly the more OOF ones, were a little too yellow. But now I'm not so sure, so I checked and they are not clipped on the bright end. If you do decide to make a slight adjustment I would mask out the ambush bug as it looks about perfect.

[shane shacaluga]

Nice shot. Very strange insect that looks to have developed similar appendages as a mantis to capture its prey.

How much more magnification are you getting with the extension tubes?

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you Mitch & Shane. Shane I'm not sure how to determine the additional magnification of extension tubes. The insect is 10mm. Maybe someone else knows how to determine this.

[Mitch Haimov]

The extension tubes add their combined length divided by the focal length to the magnification of the lens. In this case that would take you to about 1.5:1 if the lens was focused at or near 1:1. [1 + (36+20)/100]:1

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for the info ;)

[Jonathan Ashton]

A really interesting image - a super subject, the focus end exposure look good. I am not sure how it could be improved upon other than trying to coax it onto the top of the flower so that its front limbs were not obstructed. I suspect it may have been possible if you gave it a little nudge with a grass stem or something??

[Nancy Bell]

Jonathon, thank you. I did do a bit of prodding and got it to move from the notch between the petals and the flower center.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Nancy. These little guys are pretty cool! You have very nice light on your subject and good sharpness. Like Jon, I think the image would be even stronger if we could see the mantis-like front leg better. Overall, this is very well done!

[Jason Stander]

Hi Nancy... firstly what a critter and WD on the sighting... agree with Steve and Jonathan on the frontlegs... I would have maybe cropped more off the bottom... otherwise your detail, exposure and angle is wonderful... WD!

[Nancy Bell]

Thanks Steve & Jason! I would have loved to see the Ambush Bug in action! I saw a little insect move past him/her but I guess it wasn't just right!