These are shots of the mantis whose portraits I posted earlier. I wanted to show the whole insect in some kind of habitat context. I think that I must have changed my viewing position for the second one slightly to get the hotel wall as a background.
Ideally, a different angle for the first one would have made the leaf less prominent but I can accept the leaf as a price for the mouthparts being extended.
EM-1 Kiron 105mm, probably f11 or f16, TTL flash, 1/200 ISO 200.
What were you using to diffuse your flash, and how far away was it from the subject? The specular highlights are "hot".
Thanks.
There was a kit diffuser on the flash which was level with the camera body. It was a bit of a rush job. My camera had been in the car and I was about to pack the remainder of our luggage for our long drive to the airport, so there was no time for experimentation. A few minutes later the mantis could not be found.
Sorry to be a bit vague but the lack of a PC and Photoshop has delayed processing by nearly three months and details, originally clear in my mind, are now based on probability. My standard flash setup was two off-camera, one (diffused) on an L-bracket to the left, pointed down at an angle, and one on the lens barrel aimed from the right. I doubt that the latter was used, being fiddly and time-consuming to set up, although the value of the shots may have persuaded me. I would hope that I used the L-bracket and not the hot shoe but cannot be sure.
These are nice Howard. Have you considered darkening the underside of the leaves in post? Bright undersides on leaves does not look natural to me ~ Ron
surfnron wrote:
These are nice Howard. Have you considered darkening the underside of the leaves in post? Bright undersides on leaves does not look natural to me ~ Ron
Thanks, Ron.
Unfortunately, I have no access to Photoshop for some time yet.
I have seen a few mantis before, but this is the first time I had an all-around view.
I knew they were around because there were a couple on the glass wall of the restaurant patio area the previous evening.
Here is one with the wings showing, the dust, especially bottom left, being the glass of the outer edge wall. I had to prod it a bit to get the wings partly extended.
surfnron wrote:
These are nice Howard. Have you considered darkening the underside of the leaves in post? Bright undersides on leaves does not look natural to me ~ Ron
