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Winner in Praying mantis head shots Photo Challenge
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken in a small butterfly garden along Campion Trail in Irving Texas. He kept an eye on me, but didn't show much fear!Time
This would have been late morning. I had been riding my bike along the trails and walked over to the garden before heading homeLighting
It was a bright, clear, early fall day, lots of ambient lightEquipment
This was taken with a Canon T4i and 70-300mm kit lens. I had it sitting in the car in case I came across something interesting...Inspiration
I don't really see a lot of mantis around this area, I thought the (not so) little guy was a pretty interesting subjectEditing
This was processed a bit for color and contrast using LightRoom, but the colors were already pretty vivid in this shotIn my camera bag
These days my 'walk about' setup is a Canon RP Mirrorless with a 24-240mm lens, but I'll also carry a 5D Mk III with any number of lenses if I'm looking to shoot something specific. I do have a couple of crop sensor bodies if I want a bit more reach, the extra magnification from the 1.6 crop factor helps there. I'm usually looking for cool things at random while traveling, so I often don't plan shots beforehand - I'm a pretty impromptu/opportunistic photographer. I've found I spend the most time with a 16-35mm wide angle, various prime lenses, or some sort of zoom depending on what I'm shooting. I also tend to use super-zooms a lot so I don't have to changes lenses out in the open.Feedback
If you have an older camera you don't use anymore, think about putting together a kit to keep hidden in your car in case you run across something unexpected. This was taken with an entry level camera and kit lens, nothing special was used.