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Ooh, Look, Dessert Just Landed!
Ooh, Look, Dessert Just Landed!
MaryO


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Macro VII (Advanced Editing VII)
Collection: Flowers and Bugs
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Sigma 100-300mm f/4.0 EX IF HSM for Nikon
Location: Springfield, VA
Date: Sep 28, 2010
Aperture: f/10
ISO: 1250
Shutter: 1/250
Galleries: Nature, Insects, etc
Date Uploaded: Sep 29, 2010

 Such drama in the insect world!

This is the same Praying Mantis I used in the Triangle challenge. She migrated to one of my butterfly bushes and after she killed her 3rd Tiger Swallowtail in one day (she ate the first, part of the 2nd and just the head of the 3rd), I told her she was being a bad bug and moved her to a more butterfly-free area of the yard. She disappeared for a few weeks and then reappeared in the midst of yet more butterfly bushes. Went out to check on her repeatedly after the challenge was announced and sure enough, found her one morning cheerfully munching on a Monarch, the little brat. Why must she eat the pretty butterflies?! I asked her not to several times ;-)

The Skipper lucked out and took off again before she was done with her main course. He may not be so lucky next time; she is an awfully successful huntress.

Had all my extension tubes on (36mm + 20mm + 12mm) and used diffused fill flash.

PP - cropped, levels, dodged/burnt some details, gradient filter on upper right, cloned out a dust spot, increased saturation and contrast, resized, sharpened, hand-sharpened a little on mantis, blurred background more (especially Monarch wing), added border.

Statistics
Place: 89 out of 168
Avg (all users): 5.3967
Avg (commenters): 6.0000
Avg (participants): 5.4839
Avg (non-participants): 5.3051
Views since voting: 810
Views during voting: 256
Votes: 121
Comments: 5
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Nikon D700
Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED
 10/10/2010 09:19:49 PM
Creepy!
It looks very noisy round his head.. other than that it's a great shot. Feel sorry for the butterfly though....flutterby...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-6D
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS
 10/08/2010 09:44:33 PM
Interesting image in that you have the 2 insects in the same frame. It does appear however that the more interesting part of the image is not the main focus of the shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS R6
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM
 10/04/2010 10:12:45 AM
Cool "action scene." I do wish we could see a bit more of the mantis, it took me a while to find it in the shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 ED-IF
 10/04/2010 05:33:17 AM
tough to get the perfect composition but the content is all there!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED
 10/04/2010 01:57:53 AM
Wow.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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