Adult female budwing

[yeatzee]

^crop

^full frame

full body shots:

 

[Rick]

Love the closeup. They sure do like to go into a threat display.

 

[leviatan]

omg what a monster face !

 

[ZoeRipper]

That literally made me say out loud,

Holy ###### balls.

 

[Pelle]

Cool

 

[ismart]

Awsome!

 

[Katnapper]

Love the close-up, Tanner! I remember thinking when I first saw close-ups of mantids mouthparts, how I probably would have been more cautious or scared than I was when I first started handling mantids if I had seen those pics back then, hehe. :lol:

 

[kamakiri]

Nice work! What are you using for lenses? Looks like you're taking the reversed lens work seriously now.

I am curious about your lighting source(s) since I see a double spot reflection with one more dominant than the other.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Nice work! What are you using for lenses? Looks like you're taking the reversed lens work seriously now. I am curious about your lighting source(s) since I see a double spot reflection with one more dominant than the other.

Ah, Tanner! You've taken what we Maoists call the "Great Leap Forward." I assume that this was more of a "studio" setup, and the results certainly pay off. For me, this is easily your best macro work so far.

Like, Grant, I had noticed the two highlights in the mantid's eyes (you can learn a lot about portrait photography by examining the models' eyes!) and was interested to note that you had used two undiffused lights. Obviously, this works, but did you use diffused light, too?

 

[yeatzee]

That literally made me say out loud,Holy ###### balls.

LOL. This is the one mantis i get nervous while holding. I look at her wrong and she grabs my finger/pulls a threat display.

Love the close-up, Tanner! I remember thinking when I first saw close-ups of mantids mouthparts, how I probably would have been more cautious or scared than I was when I first started handling mantids if I had seen those pics back then, hehe. :lol:

yeah, they have quite the mouthparts!

Nice work! What are you using for lenses? Looks like you're taking the reversed lens work seriously now. I am curious about your lighting source(s) since I see a double spot reflection with one more dominant than the other.

Its certainly taking more work than I thought. I tried something new for lighting which included the onboard flash with my lone speed light rigged above the subject at 1/8 power and a cheap ebay diffuser.

Ah, Tanner! You've taken what we Maoists call the "Great Leap Forward." I assume that this was more of a "studio" setup, and the results certainly pay off. For me, this is easily your best macro work so far.Like, Grant, I had noticed the two highlights in the mantid's eyes (you can learn a lot about portrait photography by examining the models' eyes!) and was interested to note that you had used two undiffused lights. Obviously, this works, but did you use diffused light, too?

Actually I had a few minuted to kill and it was pouring outside so..... I got an old tripod (broken), a shoe box, a rather small peice of paper, and my camera/mantids. I'd love to perfect a DIY macro studio but I just dont have the time with school atm sadly. I can already taste spring break

One was diffused (speed light, see above) and the other flash was not. I also used the light on my ceiling and positioned everything under it so i could get decent shutter speeds and apertures. These are but 200 shots, and are all I've had time to edit (freaking dust spots ) so I'll try to update this thread as I go through the shots