Model Mantis

[Stagecoach]

This had to be one of the best behaved models I have worked with for a long time. She was spotted on the kitchen wall and patiently waited whilst I set up camera and one of the other half's pot plants. I carefully transferred her on a sheet of paper to her posing position and shot away for 10 minutes.

Every move I made her head followed me and at times when she was looking away from the camera if I put my finger between her and the lens she would remain looking at the lens long enough.

I processed the images using my normal routine in PSE7 and sharpened but was not happy with the noise. As a trial I then downsized these jpegs to 1024 pixel, max size for my free copy of 'Neat Image' de-noisier and ran them through the default noise reduction and sharpen mode.

Problems encountered were that my SBR-200s when fitted with diffusers are at their limit unless I push the ISO up or bring the speed down at the apertures I need to get a reasonable DOF.

105 macro, f22 to f29, 1/160th, ISO 640, Manual with two SBR-200s on lens.







I have left her on the plant on the balcony outside in the hope that she's there tomorrow so I get a chance with daylight.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome as always.

[jamn4ex]

I am always happy to see mantis' in the garden , I like the 3rd shot best. I guess the trial version of neat image worked well, I don't detect excessive noise. Nice series Grahame.

[dje]

Great captures Grahame, excellent sharpness and light.

Dave

[Stagecoach]

James and Dave,

Thanks for you comments.

James, they surely are interesting little creatures, this one was around 60mm body length. It's the way their head rotates 180 degrees that amazes me.

Dave, the sharpness and lighting was down to being able to set the rig and have the time to think about getting all set for max IQ.

[Brownbear]

Amazing images...

[Dave Humphries]

Very good series Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Christina and Dave,

Many thanks for your comments. Having got up early this morning with the hope of being able to take some daylight ones she had unfortunately moved on.