Thank you so much, Philly! Your prayers are certainly helpful and very much appreciated!
They may look fierce but they are really quite sweet. Even my little girls love taking them out and letting them gently walk about on their hands and arms. To try to get rid of them I give them away to schools and once we even gave them away as party favors for one of Antal's birthday parties. That's how we wound up with the first one so many years ago. I'm sure the little boy's family that had them reproducing like mad was also hard-pressed to find ways to get rid of them. I've been told that they are actually illegal to sell as pets because they would be rather pestillential (if that's a word ) if ever they got loose. They eat rose leaves and I suspect people would be rather miffed to find their rose bushes eaten up by stick bugs.
Homeschool families like ours tend to have a lot of pets. We have a dog, a cat, several aquaria of fish, a tortoise that lives out in the back yard, a gecko, and the stick bugs. i know of people who keep hissing roaches as pets. Yuk! :worried:
So glad you like the photo. It is always great to read your opinion of my work. Thanks so much!
All the best,
Endre
Philly Rains wrote:
Endre, I love your stick bug, and your story. I arrived here just after you lost your son, and didn't know anyone, but said prayers for you and your family anyway.
Your bug is gorgeous....but who knew they had such fierce little faces?
As always, you and Beverly sure make it tough on the rest of us. (But, so much fun trying to compete!)
An excellent capture....in more ways than one.
(Pet bugs indeed! )
Hello Endre,
This shot is just beautiful, the back lighting of the leaf is perfect. Thanks for the science lesson on stick bugs, I had no idea they reproduced like that. I remeber seeing one in our garden once, but that was in the heat of summer.
This is just awesome Endre. I love stick bugs, they remind me of mantis and both look like little aliens from another planet. The story that goes with this makes a great photo far more personal. Great job on this sure finalist.
Thanks, Nick. So glad you like it. I don't think they are indigenous to California and I'm very careful not to let any of them escape into the wild lest they populate on our neighbor's rosebushes.
Fond regards,
Endre
nlamendo wrote:
Hello Endre,
This shot is just beautiful, the back lighting of the leaf is perfect. Thanks for the science lesson on stick bugs, I had no idea they reproduced like that. I remeber seeing one in our garden once, but that was in the heat of summer.
Thanks so much, Tom! I'm delighted that you like this so much! I appreciate your vote of confidence regarding the finals but I wouldn't want to count my stick bugs before they hatched. :worried:
Fond regards,
Endre
Tom Basore wrote:
This is just awesome Endre. I love stick bugs, they remind me of mantis and both look like little aliens from another planet. The story that goes with this makes a great photo far more personal. Great job on this sure finalist.
Thanks, Tom! Your kind comments are always appreciated! I don't know about raising the bar. it seems like many have been doing their chin-ups this week.
All best wishes,
Endre
bouchto wrote:
Endre,
Such a great capture, you have raised the bar once again this week.
Very well done,
Tom
Thanks, Rob. I'm happy you like it. I used my 70 - 200 f 2.8 L lens with the extender ring to make it into a macro. It was shot outside - 100 ISO 1/250th at f 4.5
All the best,
Endre
Rob Derechter wrote:
Wonderful clarity and lighting. What lens and setting did you use?
Well well Mr. Balogh. You just never fail to show us how to do this whole camera pointing at interesting thing and going click and creating a truly wonderful representation of the aforementioned thing that you clicked the button on the camera thing when it was positioned in just the right spot to make the representation aesthetically pleasing to an audience of people who tune in every week to see just how to do this whole camera pointing at interesting thing and going click and creating a truly wonderful representation of the aforementioned thing that you clicked the button on the camera thing when it was positioned in just the right spot to make the representation aesthetically Flibbley to an audience of people who tune in every week to see just how to do this whole camera pointing at interesting thing and going click and creating a truly wonderful representation of the aforementioned thing that you clicked the button on the camera thing when it was positioned in just the right spot to make the representation aesthetically pleasing to an audience of people who tune in every week to see just how to do this whole camera pointing at interesting thing and going click and creating a truly wonderful representation of the aforementioned thing that you clicked the button on the camera thing when it was positioned in just the right spot to make the representation aesthetically pleasing to an audience of people who tune in every week to see just how to do this whole type shenanigans.
) if ever they got loose. They eat rose leaves and I suspect people would be rather miffed to find their rose bushes eaten up by stick bugs. 
)
so the whole point was to get that part in focus.