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Thread: Mantis portrait

  1. #1
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    Default Mantis portrait

    This little green color mantis was hunting breakfast in the prairie. It was actually walking upside-down in the bush when I found it and I rotated this image 180 degree. This is a fairly large crop of the original. Made with D80 Nikkor AF 105/2.8D on a tripod. ISO 100 f9.5@1/30 sec.

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  2. #2
    Roman Kurywczak
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    Hey Jim,
    The light here is quite interesting! I'm fine with the DOF as it is sharp where it needs it but am somewhat bothered by the rear leg intersecting the other one. You may want to explore lightening the eyes and face a touch more....just for more impact.....but very nice job isolating him against the nice BG. Nicely done overall!

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    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
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    For the most part, I agree with Roman's comments, Jim, though the back leg doesn't bother me. I like all the sparkly dew and the slight head turn towards us and agree that you might want to try brightening the face a bit. Well done.

  4. #4
    Connie Mier
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    The head definitely could use lightening. I like the oof leg as is, I think it gives the mantis dimension. Love the bg and comp!

  5. #5
    Julie Kenward
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    I love the face and head but am bothered by the OOF leg. I think if it were less OOF I'd be fine but it seems disjointed from the rest of the PM because it is so much more OOF than the rest. Again...just my opinion.

    And, though I really like the close up of the head and face I find the composition challenging because I feel like it takes my eye out of the frame at the waist level and just stops there. I'd rather have seen it with the body going out of the frame at an angle and slowly tapering off in DOF than to see him "cut in half" as it were.

    It's still a very good image of his face and head - the overall comp just leaves me from giving it high praise.

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    Thanks so much for the comments and ideas!

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    Normally I'm all for lightening the faces and/or eyes of bugs but in this case, I really like the contrasting light/dark colors as they are. I also don't mind so much that the back leg is OOF but I agree with Roman that the intersecting legs are distracting. Overall I like this shot. :)

  8. #8
    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Very good image technically, I am just a little uncertain about the composition having said that I like it very much indeed. I suppose these are large insects and the options are essentially all or half or just the head of the subject and the more I look the more I think you have got it right.

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