The Alien

kdog

We had an alien come visit yesterday.



He seemed friendly enough.


Quite relaxed, really.


A very cooperative model, all in all.


Seemed curious.


One last closeup, then off to the garden for him.


All shots taken with the Canon 5DMKII, hand-held, Canon 100 F2.8 Macro, 2 extension tubes for a total of 56mm, 580EXII flash on camera, and home-made "foamy" flash reflector.

Thanks for looking'. :thumb
Cheers,
-joel

dlplumer

Fabulous macros Joel. He looks like a jolly little chap. He's got that friendly ET look in his eyes

Do you have the IS version of the 100 mm or the non-IS version?

What do those extension tubes buy you with a shot like this?

I have been looking at the Canon 100 mm 2.8?

Thanks
Dan

kdog

Thanks, Dan!

This is the old, inexpensive, non-IS version of the 100 F2.8 Macro.

Extension tubes allow you to get a closer focus distance. Closer focus = higher magnification.

Cheers,
-joel

Eia

Ok so I opened this up and jumped back from my chair! I'm glad he was friendly lest you have been beamed up to the mother ship. Seriously, a cool shot! But geesh!!! I have to say; it does look like he began to strike a pose!

ront

Excellent series Joel!!

Ron

Panther

Howdy Joel,

WOWSER< really great detailed shots, Looks like he was enjoying the attention and having his/her picture taken.

Very nicely done, great series of images.

I think my favorite is the "Quite Relaxed" image:D:D:D

Azzaro

Looks like he/she is as interested in you as you are in it....... Great series Joel!
azzaro

Dogdots

Looks like he's even smiling for the camera. I enjoyed your series of photos. He's just so darn cute

We don't have those here in ND...at least I've never seen one.

rainbow

Praying mantis are cool creatures and you have captured it well.

Can you feel the strength in its forelimbs when it is on your finger?

dlplumer

dlplumer wrote:

Fabulous macros Joel. He looks like a jolly little chap. He's got that friendly ET look in his eyes

Do you have the IS version of the 100 mm or the non-IS version?

What do those extension tubes buy you with a shot like this?

I have been looking at the Canon 100 mm 2.8?

Thanks
Dan

Well, with shots like these (hand held) looks like one might not need the more expensive IS version.

rwells

Adding Macro's to your talents Nice...

kdog

Eia wrote:

Ok so I opened this up and jumped back from my chair! I'm glad he was friendly lest you have been beamed up to the mother ship. Seriously, a cool shot! But geesh!!! I have to say; it does look like he began to strike a pose!

Thanks, Eia! He was really fun little fella to shoot.

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

ront wrote:

Excellent series Joel!!

Ron

Thank you, Ron!

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

Panther wrote:

Howdy Joel,

WOWSER< really great detailed shots, Looks like he was enjoying the attention and having his/her picture taken.

Very nicely done, great series of images.

I think my favorite is the "Quite Relaxed" image:D:D:D

Thanks, Craig! I'm glad you liked them. It was fun and surprisingly easy to do too. Too bad it's practically winter or I might be tempted to go out and find some more bugs to shoot. Nah. :nah <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/rolleyes1.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" >

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

Azzaro wrote:

Looks like he/she is as interested in you as you are in it....... Great series Joel!
azzaro

Thanks, Gary. Yep, inquisitive, friendly, what more could you ask from a bug? rofl

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

Dogdots wrote:

Looks like he's even smiling for the camera. I enjoyed your series of photos. He's just so darn cute

We don't have those here in ND...at least I've never seen one.

Thanks, Mary Kim! He does have a rather expressive face, doesn't he?

I'm pretty sure I've seen a mantis in Canada, so I don't see what they'd also be found in North Dakota. But... they're pretty rare in general. I've only seen a few in my life.

I did some googling around and here's a picture of a praying mantis who caught and is eating a humming bird!

http://www.neatorama.com/2009/09/09/praying-mantis-catches-a-hummingbird/

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

rainbow wrote:

Praying mantis are cool creatures and you have captured it well.

Can you feel the strength in its forelimbs when it is on your finger?

Oddy, no! He is very gentle when he's just walking around. BTW, those fingers in the shot belong to my 8 y/o daughter!



Cheers,
-joel

kdog

dlplumer wrote:

Well, with shots like these (hand held) looks like one might not need the more expensive IS version.

Not if you're using a flash as the main light source, no. But for ambient light, I think it would be very useful. All in all, I'm pretty impressed how well lens did for me. Pretty much all of my shots came out great, which has got to be a first for me.

Cheers,
-joel

kdog

rwells wrote:

Adding Macro's to your talents Nice...

True story! This is the first significant project I've ever done with with macro. Kinda fun.

Thanks, Randy.
-joel

Dogdots

kdog wrote:

Thanks, Mary Kim! He does have a rather expressive face, doesn't he?

I'm pretty sure I've seen a mantis in Canada, so I don't see what they'd also be found in North Dakota. But... they're pretty rare in general. I've only seen a few in my life.

I did some googling around and here's a picture of a praying mantis who caught and is eating a humming bird!

http://www.neatorama.com/2009/09/09/praying-mantis-catches-a-hummingbird/

Cheers,
-joel

Oh my goodness -- eating a humming bird. I don't want to see one in ND now

I'll have to keep a look-out for them...if Canada has them we should too I would think.