Mantis

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

This shot was taken last year or so outside my house. I saw this guy in the bushes and was shooting when he jumped into a terra cotta planter and started crwaling around the planter. i was able to get down and dirty on my belly while resting my camera on the planter for balance.If you look closely you can see he is cleaning his antennae... Pretty cool. It was slightly backlit so i worked a little PS magic with lighting. This image was just awarded winner in Natures Best Photography Backyards 2012
Canon 7D 60 mm 2.8 lens
f7.1@ 1/1250
ISO 800 rested on planter
NR and sharpening applied

C&C always appreciated

[gail bisson]

A big congrats Cheryl. Very cool image. I like the hard lines and angles that are softened by the curved antenna. I love the detail in the antenna. I might dodge the eye a bit to bring it out a bit. Well Done!:5
Gail

[Randy Stout]

Cheryl:

Very cool, congrats on your honor!

If time permitted, I might have tried for a little more DOF, and I like Gail's idea of lightening the eye/face.

Cheers

Randy

[Ken Childs]

Hey Cheryl, this one rocks! I'm always one for more DOF but the since you got the head and the entire antenna that's being groomed in sharp focus, shallow works great here! I agree that lightening, sharpening and maybe increasing the contrast of the the eye a small amount would look good. Very well done! :cheers:

[Julie Kenward]

Avery cool image and congratulations on the award! In a perfect world, I'd love to see as much detail in the body as there is in the front legs...but this is very nice as is.

[Bob Miller]

Congratulations on your award and a super image! I agree that lightening up the face would improve it but as is its wonderful. Just goes to show you that you never know when an award winning image will come into focus on that viewfinder. Congrats again!

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Thanks everyone. I agree with all of the comments on lightening and i actually did do quite a bit as i mentioned from being backlit and not having time to adjust.The 7d has creates alot of noise at this ISO so I was kinda lucky i got what I did and recovered with NR. I may work on it some more just to see.

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Cheryl, sharp where it needs to be and really focuses the viewer's eyes on the behavior of the insect grooming his antennae. Wonderfully done of a tough subject. Congrats on the award!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very nice one and great patterns here. Congrats on the award!

[Marina Scarr]

Huge congratulations, Cheryl. Well deserved b/c this is a very unique image. The details are amazing and the BG just rocks.

[Rod Warnock]

Congratulations on the Award, Cheryl !! Great use of sharp where it counts and great composition.
Best regards
Rod Warnock