Mantis

jowensphoto · Sep 3, 2012

This little guy found his way into the house last night. Had to grab my camera and act fast, he was flying around everywhere! Pretty pleased with the result, especially considering this was shot @ 6400 ISO. Did a quick edit in GIMP, but I'll take another whack at it with PS tomorrow.

jwbryson1 · Sep 3, 2012

I got bit by one of those when I was a kid and I've hated them ever since. Nice capture though. :mrgreen:

jowensphoto · Sep 3, 2012

Bit?! I didn't know they could bite lol. Also didn't know they could fly until this one started buzzing around all over the place.

TamiAz · Sep 3, 2012

Very cool.. The other night six of them hanging around our back patio. It was the strangest thing! I love how they will look at you.

WesternGuy · Sep 4, 2012

Nice shot, I did know they could fly, having seen a lot of them around when I was a little guy (we lived in a different part of the country then), but I didn't know they would bite you - learn something new everyday.

WesternGuy

seakritter · Sep 4, 2012

I like the shot, love how it looks almost electric, however why did you shoot at such a high ISO, we're you after the texture?

cgipson1 · Sep 4, 2012

seakritter said:
I like the shot, love how it looks almost electric, however why did you shoot at such a high ISO, we're you after the texture?

Probably a lack of light, and no flash handy.... right Jess?

jowensphoto · Sep 4, 2012

cgipson1 said:
Probably a lack of light, and no flash handy.... right Jess?

Yep, exactly. The onboard flash would have glared off the shiny surface of the stove and my ocf batteries were dead. Pretty sure I shot as wide open as possible, with a slow-ish shutter speed. ISO was the only way to go in the pinch.

The grain doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, but it doesn't do anything to add to the photograph either in regard to texture. It's just noise.

I dig the reflection on the stove. I have a few more where I think it's more complete, but the noise really degrades the image IMO. I'll have to find and post them.

sm4him · Sep 4, 2012

I *think* it's a pretty cool shot, considering your lighting circumstances and the fact that you were trying to track down a frantic mantis!

I say I *think* because it's hard to see in the small embedded image, and when I click on it to see the larger image, the ad at the top of the page (a Jeep banner ad right now) still shows, overlayed on the photo, so I can only see the mantis' lower body and then the ad; I can't see its head or part of the upper body.

Anyone else having this problem? It very well could be the particular Mac I'm using, but I haven't had this happen before.

jwbryson1 · Sep 4, 2012

I just Googled if they could "bite" you and apparently they don't really bite, but they can pinch, and let me tell you something, it is PAINFUL like you do not know the term. So, I stand corrected, but I can still feel the pain in my hand from that proverbial pinch circa 1977. :thumbdown:

jowensphoto · Sep 4, 2012

Here's a re-edit of the original image:

And a new one:

jowensphoto · Sep 4, 2012

sm4him said:
I *think* it's a pretty cool shot, considering your lighting circumstances and the fact that you were trying to track down a frantic mantis!

I say I *think* because it's hard to see in the small embedded image, and when I click on it to see the larger image, the ad at the top of the page (a Jeep banner ad right now) still shows, overlayed on the photo, so I can only see the mantis' lower body and then the ad; I can't see its head or part of the upper body.

Anyone else having this problem? It very well could be the particular Mac I'm using, but I haven't had this happen before.

Hmmm, strange! I just re-posted the first along with a new one, are you able to see those? Small size is probably due to uploading straight from my PC, I'll have to upload to flickr later.

seakritter · Sep 5, 2012

jowensphoto said:
Yep, exactly. The onboard flash would have glared off the shiny surface of the stove and my ocf batteries were dead. Pretty sure I shot as wide open as possible, with a slow-ish shutter speed. ISO was the only way to go in the pinch.

The grain doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, but it doesn't do anything to add to the photograph either in regard to texture. It's just noise.

I dig the reflection on the stove. I have a few more where I think it's more complete, but the noise really degrades the image IMO. I'll have to find and post them.

I kind of figured it was because of a lack of light of course, but sometimes people use the noise for texture, I have taken shots that had a lot of noise and kept adding it until it becomes a texture I have had so pretty nice results that way, I only asked because I didn't know, sometimes you take what you can get I understand that as well. It is still a nice effort.