# Sibylla pretiosa



## more_rayne (Mar 23, 2011)

My first adult!  This guy is very skittish. Most mantis will just chill on your hand, but this guy kept trying to run, though never flew. I set him on a piece of wood, he found a crevice and hid inside. I wonder if this species is like this.


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## myzticalboi (Mar 23, 2011)

Spectacular Larry! Man how do you zoom in so much? Whats ur setup?


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## yeatzee (Mar 23, 2011)

I miss mine


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## more_rayne (Mar 23, 2011)

joeho said:


> Spectacular Larry! Man how do you zoom in so much? Whats ur setup?


Correction, I actually used the 100mm macro.


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## warpdrive (Mar 23, 2011)

I have an adult female as well as a pair of sub adults.

Yes, they are quite fearful and skittish.

Nice male. You'll find that the females have 3 red jewels at the base of her crown. So regal looking.

Harry


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Mar 23, 2011)

Beautiful Mantis, like a forest elder in that woodland setting.

I really want a nice chuck of wood like all you guys have, really interesting twists.


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## myzticalboi (Mar 24, 2011)

more_rayne said:


> I'm using a Canon mp-e 65 lens, it lets me go from 1x-5x. The head shot was maybe somewhere between 2-3x.


Are you stacking the photos?


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## yeatzee (Mar 24, 2011)

joeho said:


> Are you stacking the photos?


I'd be SERIOUSLY impressed if the last one is (pretty sure none of them are. Am I right?  ). They are some of the hardest insects to photograph around, or at least mine were, as they are in constant frantic motion.

I like the brown wings by the way! Mine were teal


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## PhilinYuma (Mar 24, 2011)

Very nice pix, and like Yeatzee, I'd be very surprised (as in amazed) if any of these were stacked.

@Slinkttreekreeper: In the US you can buy driftwood at aquarium stores. You might want to give that a try.


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## infinite213 (Mar 24, 2011)

What Canon camera are you using Rayne?


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## [email protected] (Mar 24, 2011)

Great pics! I can't wait for mine to become adults. It seems like they are the slowest to grow!


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## more_rayne (Mar 24, 2011)

gio said:


> What Canon camera are you using Rayne?


I'm using a T2i.

You guys are correct, none of these images were stacked.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Mar 24, 2011)

Thanks Phil, I'll check out the fishy places. Is driftwood safe to use without boiling or putting in the oven.

I mentioned stacked as the DOF is huge, not cos it looked stitched or anything - flawless image from here. I can only guess that the headhsot was f12 or f16 to accomplish that at these mags, is this any where close More_Rayne?

So either my mantis scales are all wrong (again) or the mpe lens performs amazingly at tiny apertures. I guess there would be a 3rd option and the mantis has a really flat head. :lol:


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## more_rayne (Mar 25, 2011)

Ooops, my bad. I checked the exif and I actually used the 100mm macro at f/11. This guy was too big, didn't need the mp-e 65. The camera was parallel to the plane of this guy's head, so his whole head was in focus.


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## Slinkytreekreeper (Mar 25, 2011)

Aha, it was the long smooth focus falloff along with the large DOF that made me think high aperture. I was so very wrong about size though, lol.

I do have a small request though if I may Rayne. Next time you use the MPE would you mind taking a shot at 5x at f8 and f16? I would also really like to know if a single speedlite is enough light for these shots if that is what you shoot with?

There's no rush but I would REALLY like to know if you can help with this one.

Cheers


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## Precarious (Mar 27, 2011)

Beautiful! I was just taking shots of my adult pair today. I like them better now that they have wings. They're much calmer.

Are you using a flash? I've been taking most of my macros at ISO 100, 1/200, f32 with the MT-24EX flash making up the difference using ETTL. If you have a flash and use these settings you won't get any antenna blur and you can shoot freehand. f32 gives the widest DOF. Sometimes I prefer f22 or lower just to maintain the close-up feel, but generally I want to catch as much anatomical detail as possible.


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## more_rayne (Mar 27, 2011)

Precarious said:


> Beautiful! I was just taking shots of my adult pair today. I like them better now that they have wings. They're much calmer.
> 
> Are you using a flash? I've been taking most of my macros at ISO 100, 1/200, f32 with the MT-24EX flash making up the difference using ETTL. If you have a flash and use these settings you won't get any antenna blur and you can shoot freehand. f32 gives the widest DOF. Sometimes I prefer f22 or lower just to maintain the close-up feel, but generally I want to catch as much anatomical detail as possible.


Yes, I use an off camera flash. For bugs in general I like to use ISO 200, 1/200, and usually don't go beyond f11, I don't like diffraction. The main purpose of my photography is to create art, I concentrate on composition and lighting. Mantids just happen to be one of my subjects. I like shallow DOF because I like to separate my subject from the background. If I was shooting bugs for say a scientific book, then my settings would change. I would then use f32 and stack photos.


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## Precarious (Mar 28, 2011)

more_rayne said:


> Yes, I use an off camera flash. For bugs in general I like to use ISO 200, 1/200, and usually don't go beyond f11, I don't like diffraction. The main purpose of my photography is to create art, I concentrate on composition and lighting. Mantids just happen to be one of my subjects. I like shallow DOF because I like to separate my subject from the background. If I was shooting bugs for say a scientific book, then my settings would change. I would then use f32 and stack photos.


I hear ya. I'm still in the phase when I'm just fascinated with seeing all the detail I can't with the naked eye. I like to see all the topography of the carapace. All those intersecting curves and planes, patterns and textures are like an alien landscape. Once I get that out of my system maybe I'll feel ready for the more artistic aspects of photography.

But for the record, if you ever do plan on doing scientific-style stacks a shallow depth of field is recommended, some say as low as f6 or f8, in order to better assist the software in selecting only the sharpest focus from each image.

Wish I had an MP-E65! Maybe some day...


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## more_rayne (Mar 28, 2011)

Precarious said:


> But for the record, if you ever do plan on doing scientific-style stacks a shallow depth of field is recommended, some say as low as f6 or f8, in order to better assist the software in selecting only the sharpest focus from each image.


Thanks for the tip, I'll keep that in mind when I intend to stack.


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## yeatzee (Mar 30, 2011)

I shoot @ F/5.6 when wanting the maximum sharpness from my reversed 50mm setup. I than generally stack between 3 and 20 images freehand  

this was about 20 images stacked @ F/5.6 with a reversed 50mm on extension tubes.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5299/5414631712_44f9271e63_b.jpg

you don't get a whole lot sharper than that at this magnification  

Total cost of the lens setup? $45


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## more_rayne (Mar 30, 2011)

yeatzee said:


> I shoot @ F/5.6 when wanting the maximum sharpness from my reversed 50mm setup. I than generally stack between 3 and 20 images freehand
> 
> this was about 20 images stacked @ F/5.6 with a reversed 50mm on extension tubes.
> 
> ...


How'd you get it to stay still for 20 shots?


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## yeatzee (Mar 30, 2011)

more_rayne said:


> How'd you get it to stay still for 20 shots?


patience and eventually they relax.

That one was very similar to the one in this video activity wise:

edit: oh and apparently you have to click on the image (zoom) for the actual IQ to be seen. Otherwise it looks weirdly soft and OOF


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## GreenOasis (Mar 30, 2011)

more_rayne said:


> My first adult!  This guy is very skittish. Most mantis will just chill on your hand, but this guy kept trying to run, though never flew. I set him on a piece of wood, he found a crevice and hid inside. I wonder if this species is like this.


Just a thought: Maybe that's why they're called "Cryptic Mantis"? (Cryptic means "hidden"...for anyone that might not know.)


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