Orchid Mantis <3

orionmystery

orionmystery

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kurt
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One of the most gorgeous mantids in Malaysia. Others that I want to see are Parymenopus davisoni and Toxodera sp.

Early instar or maybe hatchling. Surprisingly reflective....grrr..
Hymenopus coronatus_MG_5917 copy by Kurt (orionmystery.blogspot.com), on Flickr

Hymenopus coronatus_MG_5947 copy by Kurt (orionmystery.blogspot.com), on Flickr

Hymenopus coronatus_MG_5922 copy by Kurt (orionmystery.blogspot.com), on Flickr

Later instar
Hymenopus coronatus_MG_5898 copy by Kurt (orionmystery.blogspot.com), on Flickr

Later instar
Hymenopus coronatus_MG_5877 copy by Kurt (orionmystery.blogspot.com), on Flickr

Hymenopus coronatus_MG_5909 copy by Kurt (orionmystery.blogspot.com), on Flickr

More mantids of Malaysia: http://orionmystery.blogspot.com/2012/03/mantis.html
 
Now me, I love the Mantis family and your are great, I cant wait to try out my new Lens on one of these (ok so even I got to wait a couple of months) but its a shame we dont have such exotic ones as you have there.
All these shots are great as always# (y)
 
Graham said:
Now me, I love the Mantis family and your are great, I cant wait to try out my new Lens on one of these (ok so even I got to wait a couple of months) but its a shame we dont have such exotic ones as you have there.
All these shots are great as always# (y)
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Thanks, Graham. Which new lens do you have? These were taken 60mm and 150mm + 1.4x teleconverter.

It should be easy to buy an orchid mantis in the UK. Just google it.
 
These early instar mantids were featured on a recent Life Story episode. Very cute indeed, it's almost a shame they have to grow up as I really love the colours of the baby ones (very alien looking). The exotic gorgeousness of the adult goes someway to making up for it I suppose.

Brilliant set Kurt! I like the blue background (and leaf) in the second to last. Was that some PS jiggery-pokery there?
 
Once again Kurt an "Excellent" set of images. So much detail in all of them and the lovely soft lighting on the last three is something I am striving to obtain with a new setup that I am working on.(y)

George.
 
orionmystery said:
Thanks, Graham. Which new lens do you have? These were taken 60mm and 150mm + 1.4x teleconverter.

It should be easy to buy an orchid mantis in the UK. Just google it.
Click to expand...
Hi Kurt, I'm getting the tokina atx pro 100mm (read some reviews) very sharp lens, hoping it will arrive Monday or Tuesday.
 
Such amazing creatures, I have only ever photographed a mantis in Greece, and it was eating a balkan white butterfly. As timmy said these were on BBCs Life Story, amazing!!
 
TimmyG said:
These early instar mantids were featured on a recent Life Story episode. Very cute indeed, it's almost a shame they have to grow up as I really love the colours of the baby ones (very alien looking). The exotic gorgeousness of the adult goes someway to making up for it I suppose.

Brilliant set Kurt! I like the blue background (and leaf) in the second to last. Was that some PS jiggery-pokery there?
Click to expand...

Thanks, Tim. I didn't do any jiggery pokery in photoshop, but i did place a yellow tote bag in the background :D. The blue one is natural though. The dark lines were the fences in the garden.

G.K.Jnr. said:
Once again Kurt an "Excellent" set of images. So much detail in all of them and the lovely soft lighting on the last three is something I am striving to obtain with a new setup that I am working on.(y)

George.
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Thank you, George. The last three were taken with just natural light. It's quite easy to get nice soft light that way.

http://orionmystery.blogspot.com/2010/10/tips-on-shooting-with-natural-light.html

Graham said:
Hi Kurt, I'm getting the tokina atx pro 100mm (read some reviews) very sharp lens, hoping it will arrive Monday or Tuesday.
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All macro lenses are good, to me :). I do have a preference for IF lenses though i.e the barrel won't protrudes as you zoom.

mattd85 said:
Such amazing creatures, I have only ever photographed a mantis in Greece, and it was eating a balkan white butterfly. As timmy said these were on BBCs Life Story, amazing!!
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Thanks, Matt. There are quite a few mantis breeders in the US/UK.
 
Graham said:
I'm getting the tokina atx pro 100mm (read some reviews) very sharp lens,
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You'll love that lens Graham, a buddy of mine uses one and gets some stunning results with it. I pressume you're getting the Nikon fit one which has the advantage over the other fittings in as much as it has an aperture ring which is an obvious advantage if you want to reverse mount it for more magnification, or use it on bellows etc, or even use it as a legacy lens on other makes of camera.

It's the one that I was going for until I managed to source a mint second hand 105mm Micro Nikkor D which also has an aperture ring enabling me to use it on other cameras with the appropriate mount.

"Enjoy"

George.
 
T0p cat said:
Stunning pictures and amazing creatures. You must have paid him in the last photograph to pose like that.
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Thanks. Paid with a roach :p

Doodle Moo said:
Stunning images - just beautiful :) seems like a good setup you have there
Mantids are awesome to look at but pretty nasty by nature - best admired from a distance lol
The last picture looks perfect to my eyes - congrats
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Thank you, Lisa. No, they're not nasty at all. Amazing predators, in fact.

ChrisA said:
What great specimens, especially the later instar. Were these out in the wild ?
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Thanks, Chris. These were someone's pets. Haven't found any in the wild since I started macro in 2007 :(
 
Superb Kurt especially the first three little ones the third is special also wonderful light and nice background
 
Great stuff Kurt
 
That last shot is pretty special. Well done!
 
I was inspired, and now deflated by your skill
I almost feel my shots are crayon drawings compared to this

I'm kidding of course, fantastic work and look forward to more
Hard to pick a favourite, but I love the pose in2 which just sneaks it for me
 
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