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Confrontation!
Confrontation!
Artifacts


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2007-08 (Expert Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-10D
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Location: Buena Vista, Oregon USA
Date: Aug 26, 2007
Galleries: Nature, Macro
Date Uploaded: Aug 30, 2007

 Yes, this is a real encounter between a preying mantis and a spider.

And I can tell you this... it was no contest and it was gruesome. The mantis grabbed the spider with it's front arms, held on tight and consumed every bit of the spider in one sitting.

The bottom left image was actually taken AFTER the top one but is of the same spider. After the top image was taken the spider ran away as fast as it could across the lawn. I followed it to take the picture used in the tryptch. It went a LONG way for a spider without stopping, about 75 feet (23 meters), before I recaptured it and took it back because I wanted a picture of the spider and the mantis closer together. I was surprised by what happened.

Each image in this tryptch consists of a macro taken on the same day (Aug 26, 2007) within a few minutes of each other, unfortunately in direct sunlight.

Nothing special in post-processing. Each image was processed separately of the others:

1-Conversion from RAW with white balance, color and contrast adjustments.
2-Some minor selective color adjustments in Photoshop.
3-Mild dodge and burn highlighting of each image on 50% grey layer.
4-A tad bit of cloning to remove minor distractions in a couple images.
5-Cropped, resized and sharpened.
6-Images then assembled into a tryptch.

Statistics
Place: 56 out of 503
Avg (all users): 6.4768
Avg (commenters): 7.2353
Avg (participants): 6.5660
Avg (non-participants): 6.2667
Views since voting: 1177
Views during voting: 233
Votes: 151
Comments: 22
Favorites: 3 (view)

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AuthorThread
 09/20/2007 12:11:07 AM
With your 50/1.8? Nice shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/14/2007 09:05:41 PM
Damn this is awesome Steve! Gruesome indeed!

Hope all is well with you man. :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/13/2007 09:32:06 PM
Incredible photo's....what a story!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/08/2007 11:03:23 AM
awesome, going into my favs!
congrats on that high finish, could have placed higher though imo...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/08/2007 05:03:30 AM
Man, each image on its one would be better than its placed here but all 3 together is priceless.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
09/07/2007 08:02:45 PM
The top panel is superb, the bottom right is good too, but the bottom left isn't as interesting. And I would've gone with a thin dark-green frame.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/07/2007 12:38:39 PM
Personally, I think you'd have been better served with just the top panel and more of the mantis showing, but an amazing confrontation regardless and very well lit and captured.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/07/2007 11:31:18 AM
Fantastic macro series!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/06/2007 10:35:35 PM
Nice storytelling. So who won?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2007 10:16:24 PM
Neat!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2007 02:34:04 PM
Nice color and detail!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2007 12:26:44 PM
Good triptych, but I think the top image is by far the strongest. It would do quite well on its own.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/03/2007 12:29:56 PM
Very nice series!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/03/2007 04:38:16 AM
And the victor is..... Nice work tells a story
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/03/2007 12:27:39 AM
Wow. what an awesome series! I hate bugs but the macro work done here is incredible. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2007 01:06:52 PM
I love the story here, although it's sad and gruesome ;) A wonderful trio of captures :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2007 05:02:31 AM
great macro and a really good idea! But the blue frame distracts a tad
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2007 03:48:58 PM
The winner w00t! Excelent series and well photographed!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2007 01:52:33 PM
Awesome!! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2007 01:31:08 PM
awesome! especially the first image!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2007 05:55:06 AM
upper image is great, the lower two just confuse, too much happening there and bg is too cluttered. blue border doesn't fit at all IMO
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2007 12:27:40 AM
Wow, that's great! 10 from me!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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