I was taking shots of the beautiful yellow roses in my garden (and yes we do have them at this time in New Zealand.) When surprise surprise out popped a praying mantis from behind a leaf he merges in well with the foliage he climbed onto the rose and peered at me and seemed to stop and pose for this photo I took about 10 and thought this was the best one Then I cropped it quite a bit so that you can see him.
Statistics
Place: 4 out of 57 Avg (all users): 6.5274 Avg (commenters): 8.7143 Avg (participants): 6.1739 Avg (non-participants): 6.6900 Views since voting: 3158 Votes: 146 Comments: 24 Favorites: 7 (view)
I don't know what I can say about this shot that the score and placing don't already say!
The colors here are nice and vivid. Lovely yellows and complimentary greens! A nice amount of negative space in the upper right corner.
At first I didn't like the crop. I thought at first that the insect (the real subject of the shot) should be more prominent, but the more I look at it the more I wouldn't want it changed even the slightest. I would even go as far as to say that the cropping is brilliant!
Now that challenge is over the only things that I would change is to get rid of the dull green behind the mantis and the dull grey in the bottom right corner. Both are slightly distracting, but looking at your score I would have to say that neither are too distracting...
This shot does prove my point that there is at least a small element of chance in great photography. One awesome shot!!!
This is exquisite. I almost didn't see the mantis at first because of the way you use the rule of thirds to draw your eye to the flower and away from the mantis. Also because of it's coloring, the mantis appears to be squinting and grinning with its head stuck over the edge of the flower.
WOW!This is a great picture,there is no way to inprove it exept for adding more of the flower.Great focus,and timing. You picked a perfect flower.If it was a postcard i would buy it.
hahaha that little guy looks VERY angry! Thats hilarious! Its like he's actually posing for the camera! Excellent shot!! I do wish that those two green things in front weren't out of focus or weren't there.
This has got to be #1. What makes it is the eyes. And you were there at just the right time to get them. It is also a wonderful photo of a beautiful yellow rose - peace.
Oh my! I would be shocked to find him/her in my bouquet of roses that's for sure! An excellent shot overall, the cropping is well done, could be just a tad tighter on the right for me personally but the top is nice, you didn't lose the antenna of the praying mantis. The colors are well done but the lighting is just a tad dull to me, just a touch mind you. An 8 to start but I'll be back.
Taken for real or posed with a dead one? Excellent photo, I love it. Only, minor, critism is that I might have preferred it with black behind the mantis, rather than the leaf, as the mantis would have stood out even better. Great shot.
Excellent idea. The bug is exactly the same color as the foliage (as I'm sure you intended it to be). It took me several seconds before I even saw it, and then I was surprised! That's what got a 10 from me.
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