Protective Momma

[Chris Hansen]

My son Jay and I were out restacking our woodpile in preparation for this coming winter yesterday when Jay discovered this rather protective mama scorpion with her babies. She was under a piece of firewood that was lying next to another piece of firewood that had ants under it. When she and the ants met a major fight got started. I was amazed to see the ants losing. She could use those claws with amazing speed and accuracy.Chop! Chop! Chop! Luckily she didn't have to continue the fight as we rescued her before she would have probably been over run by their sheer numbers.

Canon 50D
Phoenix 100 mm Macro
Tripod and Shutter release
ISO 200
F18 @ 1/5 sec.
Light from a window diffused with a piece of foamcore and sidelight added with a silver reflector

All comments appreciated.

God bless,

chris

[Stephen Stephen]

Chris very nice image and story. It's funny how pale the young ones are. Since I haven't seen many scorpions how big would this one have been?

[denise ippolito]

Chris, I never saw anything like this!Amazing how many babies on her back-the story is nice too and I'm glad you were able to come to her aid!! I think you composed the image well.

[Don Lacy]

Very interesting image, maybe a touch of fill flash or more reflected light to light the shadows a tad more.

[Chris Hansen]

Denise,

These scorpions aren't very big. The body is about the size of an american quarter and the tail is about 1 and 1/4 inches long. They also aren't very venomous either. People around here compare it to a bee sting. Local kids are pretty adept at grabbing them by the stinger to catch them. I haven't had the guts to try that yet.

God bless,

chris

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Chris,
Very interesting story and well composed. I'm with Don on a touch more light....but you could probably bring it up some in PP'ing if you chose......just to give a bit of definition in the face area. I'm with you on not grabbing them......I'll leave to the kids! Nice placement in the frame and the rock works pretty well as a BG.

[Julie Kenward]

I'm also jumping on the add some more light bandwagon. In pp, I'd say do a quick and easy curves adjustment to give it a bit more pop.

Neat story and the image is well composed. Good thought to putting her down on a rock that so closely matched her coloring - it really adds to the image.

[denise ippolito]

Denise,

These scorpions aren't very big. The body is about the size of an american quarter and the tail is about 1 and 1/4 inches long. They also aren't very venomous either. People around here compare it to a bee sting. Local kids are pretty adept at grabbing them by the stinger to catch them. I haven't had the guts to try that yet.

God bless,

chris

Thanks Chris, I appreciate the added info. Always neat to view something like this!!:)

[Connie Mier]

Wow, something I've never seen, nor would have thought possible. What a great capture. Since the scorpion blends so well with the bg, I agree that some fill flash would have made it stand out a bit more.