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Deroplatys lobata nymph
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken at my parents house, where I used to have a little attic for my exotic pets. This praying mantis was one of them.Time
I took this picture in the evening because there was nothing to shoot in that time, so I decided to make a photo shoot of my pets.Lighting
Sadly, but I had no windows in my attic, therefore there was no natural light coming in. So I had to improvise and at the end I had an impressive light setup: room light + two table lamps. Flash didn't fired.Equipment
This was shot on a Fujifilm FinePix S200EXR, with a Raynox DCR-250 Snap-on lens and no-name tripod.Inspiration
Praying mantises are well known for being very photogenic insects, mainly because of their huge eyes. And because I was keeping one as a pet - it was obvious that I have to make its portrait.Editing
I did quite a lot post-processing. First - picture is combined from two photos, one had focus on eyes and another, on mouthparts. Then, I used "Flypaper textures" layers in Adobe Photoshop to get a canvas painting look. And obviously - a lot adjustment in lighting, contrast and so on.In my camera bag
My bag is small, so often I just take a whole bag. Currently I have just one body - small Canon 550D, which is still enough for me. Currently, I am using 4 lenses (listing from most favorite to least): Canon 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM - for all my macro shots and sometimes portraits; Canon 24mm STM f/2.8 - pancake for landscapes and everything else, great for traveling!; Helios 44-2 58mm f/2 - lens that does beautiful bokeh; Jupiter 37A 135mm f/3,5 - my only "telephoto". Also I am carrying Raynox DCR-250 Snap-on lens for taking picture of some extra small bug or a plant or its part. And finally - Fotomate 2-way Macro focus rail, because I started making majority of my macro shots by focus stacking, so I do need A LOT of pictures of same object with different focus.Feedback
If you have a praying mantis as a pet - then you are in a luck. But normally this is not the case. My advice for insects photography would be, to wake up extra early and be in a field before sunrise. This way you will have couple of hours while bugs are still not moving (especially if it's not windy). Obviously there will be lack of light but even without a proper flash you can compensate it with taking a shot in a long exposure (remember - bugs are still asleep, so they won't move!). And finally - tripod is a macro photographer best friend!