Feeling antsy

This is a little long horned grasshopper and it is an ant mimic. It is about the same size as one of the medium sized ant species and can easily be mistaken for an ant at first glance. When I found this one in my garden I thought it would be great if I could manage a shot of it jumping (as with my shot of the jumping spider's jump). After many, many unsuccessful shots I had to give up and return this little guy to my garden for a well deserved rest. Now I only have shots of it sitting on the leaf before a jump and many empty frames. I can't help wondering how cool the shot would have been if the grasshopper was in the air.
The bg is one of the lovely hibiscus flowers from my garden. The inner part of the flower is pink and gradually changes to orange and yellow. It is not noise you see on the legs and body but a very fine texture that is also present in the original RAW file.
MP E65mm; MT 24EX
apert f16; ss 1/200; iso 100

What a great image, Vida! Details, posture, compositon and BG... everything works just great. You are making some amazing images with that lens. TFS. BTW, what was the working distance here?

regards,
ramesh

Hey Vida, awesome details and excellent composition. Really like the placement with the antenaes flowing to the top. Great color.

Perfect! The thumbnail jumped out at me and the full image wows me. Love the composition, those long antenae flowing up into the gorgeous BG colors, the leaf, the position of the grasshoper, the details. Excellent! Never thought I would enjoy a photo of a grasshopper!!!!

Great pose, composition, colours, detail/sharpness, of a very unique insect. It would be nice to have just a but more room at the top above the tentacle.

Joe

This looks surreal (in a good way of course), almost like a painting. I love how the antennae direct the eye toward the pink. Amazing sharpness and detail.

This shots looks almost alien! I completely agree with what the others have already said.

I'm glad you told us what this is or else I might have thought it was one of those Chimera edits from Worth 1000.

Hi Ramesh, Mike, Anita, Joe, Ignacio and Ken. Your great comments are much appreciated. Joe, you are right and my image was actually 650 x 816 but when I tried to upload it I got a message that said it was too large. I thought that I'm allowed to post 800 on the longest side and only realized after wards that they mean 800 on the vertical. So, being a bit lazy I cropped a little bit of the top and bottom to get to 800.

I see we're finally back up and running! And what a treat to come back and find this image waiting for us, Vida. Lovely colors and incredible DOF. I think I might be skipping over my purchase of the 180mm for the one you're using - these images are fantastic!

I really can't find anything to criticize but I am sorry you didn't get the image you were after. I can only imagine how incredible THAT would have been - but this is no second place image, that's for sure!

Shees Vida and you wanted this one to jump! I'd love to have a single opportunity just to see this insect

Lovely image and I love the design of the bg colours. The one in focus and one oof antlers just makes it so interesting for me. Works very, very well.

Vida,

Love the composition and your colorful floral BG. I think you're getting me into insects again.
Keep them coming...

PS Jules don't stop thinking about the 180. Get them both.
____________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

Hi Jules, Geurt and Charles. Thank you for the lovely comments. It made my day. Geurt, it is great to see another South African on the site. Ramesh, I'm sorry, I forgot to answer your question. The working distance here was approximately 6cm. Joe, that 800 on the longest side should read 1024.

Pragtig, Vida! I love everything, also to "meet" Geurt here too! What lens are you using - I see the Canon FLASH name, but not the lens, is it a click on screw on or just straight Canon Macro?

Hi Callie. Great to "meet" you too! I use a Canon MP E 65mm lens and macro twin flash. It is a very unique macro lens that can magnify up to 5x and it opens up a whole new world of wonderful little creatures.

Thanks Vida, one-up for Canon! I thought you were using a Raynox lens.

Wow. One could debate what is better, the grasshopper or the background but why quibble when you have the both. In the avian forum the HAP might take small issue on the grasshopper but it would be a small issue.

Hallo Vida, another gorgeous bug! I thought I'd seen a lot of insects, but this one is a first for me! Are they common around where you live? Nothing further too add to all the compliments already given except that your BG's really make your images something special.

Wow, this is fantastic. Great work! The comp and background color are great.

Wow Vida, I know we are suppose to post a constructive comment or critique but you know sometimes Wow is all that is needed

Hi Declan, Jerry, Paul and Don. I never expected the great response to my shot and thank you very much. Jerry, they are not common, I've only found another one of these once before (both times in my garden) in the 2 years I've been actively searching for insects.