Thanks to the images I took (link) for my mate Jim over at bugexplorers.co.uk, I got in touch with a guy named Keir who sells ghost mantids over at his website ornamentalinsects.com. He wanted professional looking photos of his mantises taken for his website to help market these beautiful creatures. So here are the results of a 4 hour photoshoot!
Anyone wishing to see these full-size, with all the detail, go to the set on Flickr where I have them stored (link).
Shooting small, moving creatures with a heavy manual-focus macro lens gets tiring fast. I really am leaning towards getting an auto-focus macro lens now. Thoughts?
Loving the mantis photos!
Technically speaking the pluralisation mantids should only be applied to mantises from the Mantidae Family. Ghost mantises are from a different Family called Hymenopodidae (flower mantises) so should be called mantises…
I should probably tell Keir
Wow, these are amazing. I liked the Madonna 2 pic the best I think…
I was instantly reminded of Japenese culture and hairstyles, with the posing, etc.