My new roommate, Henry

[hunches]

This little guy has been living in the hanging plant on my back porch since the 12th and I’m so excited to check on him every day. I absolutely hate bugs, but I love mantises.

Here he is stalking a bug which unfortunately never came into reach (pops to lightbox):

After spending 20-30 min in the sun trying to catch him eating naturally, I decided that nature takes too long and have been feeding him a moth every other night or so. Long live Henry! :p

[lokisbong]

Very cool. I love mantises also.

[linguine]

cool shots

[Yugoboy]

Quite fortunate for you!

I have very few insects that I enjoy anywhere in the same zip code as me, but ones that don’t destroy my stuff, make me itch, or spread diseases are certainly potentially cool. Mantises, walking sticks, and grasshoppers top that list.

I have a few pics of a green grasshopper sitting on a sculpture at a sculpture park we visited. I was going to post one, but it turns out all of them were just mis-focused on the sculpture, just beyond the bug. Darn it.

Yours are really nice!

[Yoyo]

I love the tan on green color and how those colors are echoed in the background top left.

[hunches]

Thanks :). I am indeed very fortunate not just that he chose my place, but also the spot he chose is safe from the cats! Another thing I forgot to mention is that I’m not sure if he’s an albino or is meant to be that color. I read some conflicting stuff on the net (“Yes there are albinos” with no pics, and others saying they come in lots of shapes and colors) so I dunno. The only other one I’ve seen around here was green.

Yugo – Sorry about your grasshopper, but I believe it because for every decent shot I’ve got there are 4-5 just off focus or blurry.

Yoyo – That’s nifty, I hadn’t even noticed. Thanks for pointing it out!

Here he is on the night I spotted him. His form against the chain just caught the corner of my eye and I looked up and jumped out of my seat to run and get my camera. He’s bathed in red from our little porch lights.

[lokisbong]

I don’t think that’s an albino. I have seen plenty of them that color around here. and green ones too but I would say more tan ones than green. That red version is awesome.

[fluffybunny]

I am not a biologist, nor do I play one on TV, but:

http://eol.org/data_objects/1995787
http://texasinvasives.org/pest_database/detail.php?symbol=45
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_mantis

[caradoc]

Not albino. Browns and tans are pretty common around here, too:

But we also see green ones:

[Pickerel]

One time while I was backpacking, a grasshopper roughly 5″ long decided to jump up and hitch a ride on my knuckle. It also decided to try eating my knuckle. While watching this ginormous grasshopper trying to nom on my hand, I realized just how complicated they are! Could see all the parts at work clearly. Unfortunately this was the trip before I had my BlackRapid strap, so my camera was not on hand to try capturing the site. After that episode, and another instance where a teeny tiny salamander fell on my head, I really got the thought in my head to bring a macro lens + speedlight while hiking. Wish I could justify it… so few shots I’d use a macro for, but I need it for those shots.

Here’s the teeny tiny salamander, shot with an ultrawide zoom and heavily cropped…

Redback Salamander by El_Pickerel, on Flickr

[caradoc]

Wish I could justify it… so few shots I’d use a macro for, but I need it for those shots.

Macro lenses make for awesome portraiture.

Don’t think of it as just a macro lens. Think of it as a pretty-damned-sharp lens…

My Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro is one of my two favorite lenses.

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=tamron90mmf28&w=21324824%40N00&s=int

That link’ll get you a sampling of what I do with that lens.

[Barracuda]

+1 on thinking of a Macro as a damned good prime lens that can also focus really damned close.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-00xf55vaNHI/UDbze041puI/AAAAAAAAJoY/foHAbma7IRE/s2400/IMG_6538.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vV3kbY9SBFk/UDGoanFX6XI/AAAAAAAAJR4/MVm2fZ-8vNE/s2400/IMG_6687.jpg
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mUSlgEgqRuk/UCbYEhr8pPI/AAAAAAAAI5o/nejWdKy1CiI/s2400/IMG_6160.jpg

The 100mm Macro has quickly become my favorite lens, even more so than the 50 f1.4. //needs a better wide angle lens…

[Pickerel]

Don’t think of it as just a macro lens. Think of it as a pretty-damned-sharp lens…

Problem is… I usually have my 70-200mm f/2.8 VR with me while hiking. Makes it very hard to justify a 1:1 macro, since I’ll only put it on for those shots where I have to go beyond 1:4 reproduction. Nikon patented a 70-200mm f/4 VR that has 1:2 reproduction… I really hope they make that, since I would definely swap that with the f/2.8 for the 1:2 capability.

[Choc-Ful-A]

Don’t think of it as just a macro lens. Think of it as a pretty-damned-sharp lens…

Problem is… I usually have my 70-200mm f/2.8 VR with me while hiking. Makes it very hard to justify a 1:1 macro, since I’ll only put it on for those shots where I have to go beyond 1:4 reproduction. Nikon patented a 70-200mm f/4 VR that has 1:2 reproduction… I really hope they make that, since I would definely swap that with the f/2.8 for the 1:2 capability.

When I bought my D80 it came with a kit lens that I really, really hated. It was something like an 18-55 VR lens that was designed for autofocus use only. A couple days later I bought a very inexpensive Tamron 70-300 lens that, as a bonus, switches to a 180-300 macro lens with a flip of a switch. It’s a cheap lens, it’s a slow lens, but I absolutely love it for hiking and even for indoor shooting with a tripod. And when I say cheap, I mean both it feels too light as if the parts were not going to last long, it’s not that sharp at 300mm, and the price was $120 at the time.

I was skeptical of it’s durability, but for that price I decided it was worth the gamble. That was the only lens I used on the D80 for a couple of years and it’s still what I use about 50-60% of the time now. And the lens is still working fine, even though the D80 went belly up recently.

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