This photograph was made on my backyard patio as this Chinese mantid was crawling around some potted flowers. Although the insect was not 'captive' in the strict sense, I did move the potted plant to a location which created a clean background so there was some 'manipulation' involved. I waited for the mantid to move to the top of the plant and before tripping the shutter. Note that the insect is missing part of a tarsus. This is an older image from a Canon D60 and even at ISO 100, it did require the use of Neat Image to reduce noise. The photograph also required additional work to remove some flash hot spots (obviously I did miss a few) and burn in some detail.
The original capture was a high resolution jpeg and I cropped the image significantly (60%). The mantid's pose reminds me of Johnny 5 from "Short Circuit".
Canon 70-200mm f/4 L at 115mm and Canon EOS D60; ISO 100; AV/Evaluative metering =0; 1/30s at f9.5; Canon 420 EX flash at -1 2/3; Bogen tripod.
Great portrait of this impressive insect!
I do see some sort of "halo" around the head, perhaps due to some post processing such as shadow highlight.
Normally a centered position of the head would not be my favourite crop, but in this case it works extremely well!
Absolutely charming, and so, so sharp with a perfect BKGR.
My biggest suggestion: post more images!
later and love, artie
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