A Mantisfly (Climaciella brunnea) perched on Spikenard fruits. Although it has front legs like a mantis which it uses to capture small insects, it is not a mantis, but rather is related to Lacewings. They are slow-moving weak fliers and are harmless to humans. This species is also a remarkable mimic of a Paper Wasp. Nikon D850, Sigma 150mm macro, 1/200, f/16, ISO 500, Venus Optics KX-800 macro twin lite, manual 1/16, diffused, HH. Cropped for comp. Photoshop, NIK, Topaz Denoise AI.
What a find! Super insect I would love to see one of these!
A fine image, the DOF isn't bad but a subject like this is not easy. Do these insects stay still? - just wondering if stacking is possible/impractical, the other alternative - and especially with a camera that produces big files is to step a little further away and then crop the image.
I like the image the composition and the background is appealing, colours good, just a slight reservation over DOF on the insect.
Thanks Jon. This particular individual was crawling around on these fruiting heads so stacking was not an option. It was a challenge to get an interesting pose against an uncluttered background. I hear you about moving farther back to get more DOF and then cropping. That's one of the reasons why I bought the 44mp D850.
Love this image!. Great composition, especially the fruits at the bottom lead toward the main bunch. Colors and background look great. The insect is sharp in most areas and that would be adequate. Very interesting insect.
What an amazing insect!!! And a pretty good image as well. The pose is astounding as well. Great shot!
with love, artie
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