Some mantises hatched in my bushes. They were really deep in the thick of things so I had to rely on flash a little more than I wanted. Here are what I've gotten so far Hope to get more and get some with a little more sunlight. Any CC is always welcome.
Very nice! There is one brown line in their eyes. Do you know, what that is?
Thank you! I'm not sure,but I believe it is part of their camouflage. Anything that breaks out the outline helps to hide in the shadows. That's how tiger stripes and leopard spots work anyway.
Beatiful. I actually really like the lighting here and am curious what kind of flash setup you used? It looks super soft and pretty natural, something I struggle with when lighting bugs myself.
Thank you! I use a Godox tt685o mounted on top of camera with a modified soft box from Amazon. I cut the sides of because they seemed to be choking the light off more than helping. I also added a safety pin to help hold the angle. Then a some highlight and shadow recovery and dodging and burning in Lightroom. Here are some pics of the setup and one of the shots straight out of camera. I Think I had a slightly smaller version of the softbox on for these shots I use this one if I have the room and the smaller one if I'm a little deeper in the bushes.