It's Not Easy Being Green

[Julie Kenward]

I found this praying mantis sitting on top of a very well manicured hedge outside our local museum yesterday. I almost missed him but his shade of green made me take a second look since the rest of the hedge was so much darker.

Believe it or not, I was photographing landscapes so I took this with my Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L lens. I practically had to lay on top of the hedge in order to get close enough to make the image. I'm pretty sure I psychologically scarred this little guy for life. :D

Canon 40D
f5 @ 1/60th, ISO 160
AWB, Center-weighted metering
Handheld, early evening light

Processed in ACR & CS3. Small crop, levels adjustment and sharpening.

[Robert O'Toole]

Julie

Not bad for a quick grab image. Sometimes you have to use what you have, not what you would like. Nice job on the comp and soft light looks nice.

Wide angle lenses are very useful for macro photographs. You can get very close to the subject and still show a good view of the habitat. With dragonflies you can fill 2/3rds of the frame and still show the whole pond.

Robert

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks for that info, Robert! I never would have thought to try a wide angle for macro photography but it seemed to work okay!

[Chris Starbuck]

Jules,
If this is a "grab shot" you grab really well! Nothing to critique from me; this is great -- artful and at the same time a good illustration of insect camouflage.

On the subject of wide angle macro: Sometime when you have a tripod along, try adding a short (12mm) extension tube to your 17-40. Judging from what it does with my Sigma 10-20 and 20D, at 20mm the total range of focus (minimum to "infinity") is about 1/2" to 1" from the lens. (At 17mm you may be able to focus on objects actually touching the lens.) Objects 1/2" from the lens will be at nearly 1:2 magnification (with corresponding puny DOF), but at f/16 to f/22, objects 40-50 feet away will still be recognizable. I find this fun to play with in flower gardens; stick the lens right inside a large flower like a daylily, show the stamens at high mag, with endless flowers filling the rest of the frame. Just watch out for that chain link fence in the background.

Chris

[Julie Kenward]

Chris, that's a wonderful suggestion. I've been meaning to get some extension tubes so I'll print this out and hang on to it for when I do!

[Bruce Murden]

Glad your eye was working to spot this one. I like the diagonals of the hedge and its gaps, and the PM sat in the right spot for you. Good job!

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks, Bruce. I never would have seen him except I had my tripod leaning up against the outer edge of the hedge. I went to grab it and thought, "What the heck was that?"