Advice sought with Photographic bias.

[stevesm]

Well I've been on the board for just over a day and picked up loads of tips and seen some fabulous pics. It's definitley the place to be for Mantids.

Given that my primary aim is to photograph them, I'm formulatig a plan that will best suit my space and pocket. Guys, what is your advice regarding a nice slow moving mantid or one that stays still lots of the time? Obvioulsy this would be a benefit when photographing. I will be using a coupel of nice flash guns, one camear mounted, one remote and an EOS 20D with 18-55mm on closeup setting or with auto extension tubes. Oh and a tripod of course

I really like the looks of the Orchid and the Violin mantids so far. Are these spritley? I like Ghosts too. Geesh! Already three favourites!

 

[Isis]

Ghost would be good models, their only flaw is that they like to swing like a branch if interested in something and it can cause the photographer a motion sickness

Every criptic species: Popa, Deroplatys, Phyllocrania is in my opinion a good steady object.

 

[stevesm]

Thanks Isis, I'll make a note of the list. I don't even know if my local pet shop can get hold of mantises yet. I'm a little wary of getting them through the post. Seems a bit harsh to me.

 

[padkison]

Post works fine for mantids unless the postal service errs (at least in the US). You may want to check out Martin French of Bugzuk.com. He has many species available and can give you his experience with Royal Mail.

 

[stevesm]

Thanks Padkison. It's just that I've seen what our post goes through. I'm actually surprised anything remains alive! When the time comes, I'll investigate.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I'm not really familar with a lot of species as far as movement is concerned, but they are not really active as far as most insects are concerned. Most of the people on this site post an enormous amount of pics of their pets and they are top quality pics. I do not think you will have any problems taking pics of them, also if you look at their photos a lot of them post what they use to capture them, plus they post a lot of different species, u can get a lot of good advise from their postings that might help you decide!

 

[randyardvark]

royal mail are ok... but opt for next day delivery and make sure they are sent iin the morning ,every decent breeder will do this anyway, they do well in the post, and out of all the mantids (and tarantulas) ive had in the post ive only had one fatality in a newly hatched s.linolea nymph which could of been down to nature giving out rubbish genes petshops seem to be a bit unreliable with mantids in my experience and expect a bit of a mark up in price,go for one of the main breeders, and get them through the post, they enjoy it really

tbh everyone in the invert keeping hobby uses the post, and although occasionly mishaps to happen, but they could happen in any situation really

 

[anthony2001a]

Well I've been on the board for just over a day and picked up loads of tips and seen some fabulous pics. It's definitley the place to be for Mantids.Given that my primary aim is to photograph them, I'm formulatig a plan that will best suit my space and pocket. Guys, what is your advice regarding a nice slow moving mantid or one that stays still lots of the time? Obvioulsy this would be a benefit when photographing. I will be using a coupel of nice flash guns, one camear mounted, one remote and an EOS 20D with 18-55mm on closeup setting or with auto extension tubes. Oh and a tripod of course

I really like the looks of the Orchid and the Violin mantids so far. Are these spritley? I like Ghosts too. Geesh! Already three favourites!

Generally, mantids are insects that prefer to ambush their prey==which means that mantids tend to stay in one position and one spot for extended periods. Mantids seem to like being upside down or head down a lot.

So, from a photography perspective, they aren't very active and moving like a fly, ant or bee, except when attacking prey or when moving from an undesired position to a new position.

Generally, the biggest problem with photographing a mantis isn't one of movement; the flash will "freeze" most movement. The real problem is one of "depth of field" or the area that will be in focus in front of and behind your focus point. In macro modes, this area of focus can be extremely narrow and make it difficult to capture a sharp image of the mantis, even if it's not moving.

Anthony