# Mantis Pets



## ChrisA (Apr 12, 2011)

Some of the shots of the now 4 resident mantis's

First a montage...







The Ghost Mantis - Casper - Second latest edition.






The Springbok Mantis - Mandy - the original one.






The Dead Leaf Mantis - Dudley






And lastly the latest edition, Trevor the Twig Mantis.











Finally all four stuck together...


----------



## Bios. (Apr 12, 2011)

Nice, I have a friend who keeps mantids, they make good macro subjects! 
I think a leaf or something to stop the background being totally black would have made these much better.


----------



## Trever1t (Apr 12, 2011)

you named one after me?

I don;t know how you go about locating one of those, they blend so well!


----------



## ChrisA (Apr 12, 2011)

Bios. said:


> Nice, I have a friend who keeps mantids, they make good macro subjects!
> I think a leaf or something to stop the background being totally black would have made these much better.



Thanks they are good subjects.  Hope to go outdoors soon to get some better lighting.  Having said that I do sometimes like the black backgrounds personally.  And I can be a bit lazy on indoor shots lol.



Trever1t said:


> you named one after me?
> 
> I don;t know how you go about locating one of those, they blend so well!



Ha ha - your fame spreads... Fortunately Trev was easily found in a pet shop!


----------



## Hardrock (Apr 12, 2011)

Great subjects and love to see the different species of them. They all seem a little dark to me and the DOF is a little thin. Overall 5/10.  #4 is my favorite and I love how he is posing for the camera! Nice series.


----------



## ChrisA (Apr 13, 2011)

Hardrock said:


> Great subjects and love to see the different species of them. They all seem a little dark to me and the DOF is a little thin. Overall 5/10.  #4 is my favorite and I love how he is posing for the camera! Nice series.


 
Thanks Hardrock.  I'm not sure why but on this forum the files get compressed, which seems to make them look darker than on others.  I agree the last but one is too dark anyway.  Were you referring to all of them being too dark or just some of them ?

What sort of DOF do you think would be needed ?  And is the limited DOF applying to the headshots only or the whole mantis shots.   

Appreciate the feedback.


----------



## orionmystery (Apr 13, 2011)

Fun shots


----------



## Hardrock (Apr 13, 2011)

ChrisA  Im not sure what settings you shot these at but f11 to f13 is a good start and that can be even  real thin when getting 1:1. Angles really are tricky with macro and dof like in #4 it appears that the whole mantis is in focus but in #5 due to the angle only the head is in focus and if you could have gotten more DOF with the front arms in focus it would have been an outstanding shot! As far as the darkness the subject just seems dark and needs a bump in exposure. Then again it could just be my monitor? But the good thing is you know where they live and can shoot them again. Hope this helps!


----------



## JBArts (Apr 13, 2011)

Cool subjects. They blend well in their environment. The 4th image takes the cake for me. Looks like Dudley's prepared for this pictorial because his pose is so right on. LOL. By the way, I find most of your shots a bit dark. Other than that though this is a good series.


----------



## ChrisA (Apr 14, 2011)

Hardrock said:


> ChrisA  Im not sure what settings you shot these at but f11 to f13 is a good start and that can be even  real thin when getting 1:1. Angles really are tricky with macro and dof like in #4 it appears that the whole mantis is in focus but in #5 due to the angle only the head is in focus and if you could have gotten more DOF with the front arms in focus it would have been an outstanding shot! As far as the darkness the subject just seems dark and needs a bump in exposure. Then again it could just be my monitor? But the good thing is you know where they live and can shoot them again. Hope this helps!


 
Thanks Hardrock.

I see what you mean now.  That twig mantis shot head shot is distracting with his legs.  I shot that on the MPE-65mm at F11.  I think I need a better angle on it to get less of a distraction on the legs.  (I shot all these at F11) but there's a big difference in field depending on lens and closeness.  I'll have a play later with exposure and see.  Thanks for the info.  And yes - I can shoot again.


----------



## Johny (Apr 15, 2011)

Nice subjects! i would love to make some photos like this , but here in my state i can't find this kind of subjects, too bad!


----------

