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Time for Lunch
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Time for Lunch

by Peter Cross

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted August 30, 201333 views2 comments
I was out in the backyard late this morning, trying to capture a few bee images without much success. I looked over towards another plant and noticed a gray butterfly furiously flapping it's wings. I thought maybe it was caught in a spider web. I went over and took a look and found that it was in the clutches of a praying mantis. So I started taking photos. I was surprised by how slowly and deliberately it ate. It was in no hurry. Interestingly, it was eating the head first. If I had my brain working, I would have gone inside and gotten my tripod. But it never crossed my mind. Anyway, this is the first time I've ever seen this happening right before me. The only tweak I made to this was to very slightly warm it up. Resized and sharpened as usual. Comments and critiques are welcomed and appreciated. Ideas on improving this would be welcome as I couldn't think of anything myself. I noticed the f stop was 9 and I was in aperture priority set for f/11. No sure how that happened. But it did rob me of some DOF.

Tech Info

Canon EOS 60D with EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS @ 135mm and 36mm extension tube
1/500th at f/9 and ISO 800
hand held

Comments

2 comments
Comment posted by John Tobias on August 31, 2013 at 12:06 AM
Peter, a neat image, I like the activity you have captured. For me, the angle of the mantis is a bit awkward, if possible I would suggest a clockwise rotation to bring the head of the mantis more up right. I find when trying to get shots of mantis I can end up with some odd angles as I move around my subject. Also, IMHO it could be just a tad darker . I have not been able to catch this behavior. Thanks for sharing.
Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments
Comment posted by scott lanz on August 31, 2013 at 7:32 AM
Nice capture of the action, Peter. The light and bg are not favorable, resulting in a somewhat confusing scene. In fact, I at first had a difficult time making out the mantis. However, once sorted out to the eye, it's a compelling image. I like how the mantis is camouflaged, even to the poor bf.
Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments