Mantis & Russian Sage – D700, 70-200 w/1.3 & 500D

Three variations of the same mantis in the Russian sage, good hunting ground. I used Helicon Focus on all of these, 8, 4 and 13 image stacks in that order. Click on images to view larger…

Mantis & Russian Sage 2 – D700, 70-200 w/1.3 & 500D

Mantis & Russian Sage 3 – D700, 70-200 w/1.3 & 500D

Missing Mantis, Helicon Focus – D700, 70-200 w/1.3 & 500D

Haven’t seen this male mantis that was hanging out in the azalea for about a week now. Maybe the dry weather has him hunting somewhere else??? Shot as a eight image stack and combined with Helicon Focus. Would have used more images and got more in focus but the mantis would not cooperate, kept moving just enough. 100% view of the head follows…click to view larger.

Missing Mantis, Helicon Focus 100% – D700, 70-200 w/1.3 & 500D

Helicon Focus Mantis – D700, 70-200 w/1.3 & 500D, 7 image stack

Another young mantis in the lilly of the valley, used a 7 image stack with Helicon Focus to get the head and front legs in focus. Here is a full size 100% view of the head…click to view a little larger.

Helicon Focus Mantis 100% – D700, 70-200 w/1.3 & 500D

Helicon Focus Mantis – D700, 70-200 w/1.3 & 500D, 15 image stack

Here is another Helicon Focus image of a young mantis in the rain. This is a 15 image stack that worked pretty well. I shot quite a few image stacks that did not work out because the mantis decided to move a little during the process. Again, here is a full size 100% crop of the image above so you can see the detail possible…click to view the images a little larger.

Helicon Focus Mantis 100% – D700, 70-200 w/1.3 & 500D