Me and My Mantis

"From whence arrived the praying mantis?
From outer space, or lost Atlantis?
glimpse the grin, green metal mug
at masks the pseudo-saintly bug,
Orthopterous, also carnivorous,
And faintly whisper, Lord deliver us."
~Ogden Nash.

 Looks like a little lady we photographed back in September of last year is gaining a bit of popularity, we sold out of prints of her at a show in December and the shots have one a few awards on some photography competition sites. Funny thing is I'm not a fan of selling prints or entering competitions, guess I might have to look into it more.

The little lady I'm referring to is an adult female Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinensis) , I was heading out to my truck to leave and do some errands, I opened the door to climb in and I felt something hit my arm.
She landed on me and crawled around for quite a bit, she was completely fascinated with crawling all over me....up the arm, onto the neck, around to my back and on to the top of my head. I gently escorted her to the tailgate of my truck then ran inside to and grab my gear.

She waited for my return in the same spot I left her, she headed towards me again to climb aboard. I moved her to a few spots to capture some shots, first shots were her on my truck, she immediately re-gained interest in me, the camera or her reflection in the lens...she proceeded to examine the scene by crawling on every bit of my gear. Fearing she would lose interest I moved her to a set of white plastic milk crate stacking/organizers I had sitting out side my garage (reason for the white studio look). 

Even after I moved her to the top of the crates she waited around for me to set the shot up, when I started making some photos she figured is was a good time to groom herself...not sure if she was cleaning her mandibles or her toes. Maybe she had a big meal and was picking out some of the lovely bug bits from her mouth, mantises are a voracious and beneficial predator in the insect world.

We get quite a bit of them here at the studio, I watched a female eat a large group of hornets right out of a nest in a short amount of time...snagged them right out one by one and devoured every last one of them Mmm Mmm Mmm Crunchy! They also happen to be nature's little fashion models...they love to pose and check out cameras, this pertains to the adult females... adult males are a bit skittish and the young usually don't like to stick around for anything (in this area anyway).

Back to the gear and set-up.

I used my Nikon D4 with  Sigma APO Macro 180mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM lens.

For the most part I usually shoot most all my macro starting at aperture f/16 but because the mantis is quite lengthy I set to f/18 or f/22. You really need to play with your angles and perspective when capturing them.

For the most part they move pretty slow so 1/100 to 1/125sec shutter speed works well. ISO I had at 100. It was hand held for this as I was changing positions with her movements and the space was limited.

Nothing shows a mantis personality more than their big beautiful eyes so getting a nice catch light in the peepers is crucial for us with the Praying mantis or any insect really. Had the Nikon SB910 speedlight attached on camera with a Rogue FlashBender

You have a little something stuck to your mouth... no here, do you want me to get it?  Napkin Please! 1/100sec, f/22, ISO100, 180mm (Click photo to enlarge)

 Ready for the cuteness overload?

Kissy face!!! 1/100sec, f/18, ISO100, 180mm (Click photo to enlarge)

Same image as above, rotated and cropped to show detail. (Click photo to enlarge)

Probably one of my favorite insects to photograph and just a big fan of them in general. I guess if I had a spirit or totem animal I would hope it was the mantis...looking back my very first encounter with a praying mantis as a young child it was a similar experience. Walking near my home and suddenly had one land smack in the middle of my chest and staring right at me inches from face...I remember the racing of my heart from the sudden surprise but almost as fast as the shocking large bug encounter happened the curiosity and respect was created by meeting such a beautiful creature or maybe it was just the big puppy dog eyes looking up at me ;)

Little girl hanging on the flashbender while I try to get some shots with the mobile. (Don't click, not a good pic of me)

We were able to grab some behind the scene video as well :)

You can see our praying mantis photos and more macro work here

 

If the Praying Mantis is your Animal Totem:

You have learned to take your time and live your life at your silent pace. You never make any movement without careful thought or contemplation. You know exactly where you are going and when you will get there. Even within this calm and serene environment you are capable of quick and decisive action when opportunity presents itself.

If Praying Mantis has crawled into your space;

Usually the Praying Mantis makes an appearance when we’ve flooded our lives with so much business, activity, or chaos that we can no longer hear the still small voice within us. Taking a step back and some simple meditation would be in order here because the external din we’ve created needs to be quieted so that we can come back to our own truth. The Praying Mantis always comes to us when we need peace, quiet and calm in our lives.