Insects...

[aa los banos]

thanks guys! i've just waited for this one to like stood up on a branch which it's crawling on and took the shot in our backyard.....luckily, i got the 2 big eyes sharp

@greg, i've used my sigma105mm macro lens and just cropped it to make it a bit bigger



another one, sharing.....

[jcoffin]

Wow -- another gorgeous one aa. I love the "lacework" in the wings.

[aster]

Congratulations, AA.

Two most impressive shots that showcase all the delicate details of these intricate creatures. Love the eyes of the spider and the 'lacework' on the wings in the last shot. : )

Thanks for sharing,
Yildiz

[Greg Beetham]

I like tha lighting in that dragonfly capture aa los banos and great detail in the in focus areas. That one is a quite large dragonfly, I've often seen that one around here as well, but usually on the move...lately I've been seeing more of the smaller blue ones with the dark shading near the wing roots, there used to be a reddish one also but I haven't seen one of those for a while.
Greg

[Birma]

Hi aa - I especially like the dropped wings with the dof and bokeh in the dragonfly shot - lovely .

[redsim74]

Fantastic Dragonfly!

Here's a shot of a Praying Mantis I got today — she was quite a big one.

A700 + Tamron 60/2 Macro
(1/250s, ISO640 @ f/8)

[Greg Beetham]

Your photo isn't showing for me redsim74. You might have better luck using the upload feature on this website instead of flickr.
Greg

[redsim74]

Thanks, Greg.

It seemed to be working for me yesterday.


A700 + Tamron 60/2 Macro
(1/250s, ISO640 @ f/8)

mantis.jpg

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[Greg Beetham]

Yeah that's a good one redsim74, looks like it might be a female looking for a spot to deposit that large peculiar foamy egg they do. Good shot, you got most of it in focus, not easy with a large Praying Mantis.
Greg

[redsim74]

Yeah that's a good one redsim74, looks like it might be a female looking for a spot to deposit that large peculiar foamy egg they do. Good shot, you got most of it in focus, not easy with a large Praying Mantis.
Greg

Thanks again, Greg.

My thoughts exactly, she seemed heavy with eggs - and certainly felt heavy when I picked her up to reposition her! It's good to see a native green one, we seem to be being overrun with a brown South African(?) variety at the moment.

I should have tried a few more shots stopped down a bit more and upped the ISO. I feel I didn't quite get the focus point right but generally happy with it.

[Birma]

Really nice shot Redsim74. What a whopper! You picked it up ? It would give me the creeps just knowing it was in the garden.

[Greg Beetham]

Ha ha Birma you're funny, Praying Mantises are harmless...too us, but you have to watch out for those sharp grab claws at the front that's the main thing, they do a great job getting rid of lots of bugs though so I like having them around. I think there is a few varieties of the brown type here I've noticed over the years redsim74, there is the very long slender one that holds it's front legs out straight and also the more normal looking one, they are the ones I've seen most of anyway. There is also a couple of green ones too from memory...I should have been more diligent with the camera in the past and got some photos of them, I probably have a few on film...somewhere.
Greg

[redsim74]

You picked it up ? It would give me the creeps just knowing it was in the garden.

Ah, Birma... A Praying Mantis doesn't even register on the scary scale in my garden!

Here's a Weta, which was at least twice as big as the Mantis. I picked this up off the wall of my house to put it on the pavement.


Sim

weta.jpg

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[Greg Beetham]

That Weta is a nasty looking dude redsim74, looks like a type of cricket, there is one or two similar ones here but only 2 inches long maybe, that I've seen anyway, once one chopped a new calender up into a nest, it folded the cut edge over itself and stuck it down, it wasn't happy either when we pulled the edge up to see what was inside.
I saw this beetle at work running accross the floor, it looked a bit dangerous to have on the loose in the workplace so I sprayed it with bugspray. It wasn't very large only about the 1.5 inch size but it was a bit scary just the same.
Greg
A100

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[redsim74]

Hi Greg,

Yes, I believe there a cricket/grasshopper relative. They come bigger than the one I shot (the Giant Weta is the world's heaviest insect), though that particular variety doesn't live where I am.

That's a nasty looking beetle, hard to top Oz for bugs and "things that will kill you".

I've got an old photo of a giant centipede somewhere, it was a 4 1/2 inch long "baby". My old flatmate's ex unloaded an entire can of flyspray at it - it took 12 hours to die!


Sim