I was fortunate that an flowering orchid was out, at the same time this Praying Mantis came to visit.
This image has been in my workfolder ever since April, thinking I would save it for the best of 2006.
Processed in the "Raw" format, where I rotated the image by 5.1%.
I then processed it in Adobe Photoshop.
Adjustments: Shadow & Highlights.
Filter: Sharpened: Smart Sharpened & Noise Reduced.
Cloned some small spots away.
Burned the background, and some parts of the flower. petals, and also some of the Praying Mantis.
Dodged small parts on the flower.
Adjustments: Hue & Saturation, Color Balance + Curves.
Adjustments: Brightness & Contrast.
Filter: Unsharp Mask.
Added border.
Re-size, and saved for web.
Enjoy, and I hope you like it.
A special thank you to my dear friends, and neighnours, Margeret and Bruce McGregor, for seeing this Praying Mantis, and bring it to me, on this flowering orchid.
We had a wonderful time, as she watched me taking many photos with this Praying Mantis, always looking straight at me, in every single photo.
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if you held back from entering one of your trademark shots for fear of recognition backlash, you shouldn't have. if you really feel this is your best work of last year, that's fine, as long as you don't mind others feeling differently...
Lovely colours. Really packs a punch in terms of visual impact. Looks a bit oversharpened, but maybe that's just my imagination, or as a result of the strong tonal contrast in the image.
glorious technicolour - perhaps a little too much here! grain is apparent as a consequence. Focus needs to be a little tighter - needs to be perfect for these kinds of shots.
Cool looking creature and flower. Looks oversharpened and oversaturated though. Flower seems to be in focus rather than the bug, more DOF might have helped.
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