break his antennae. I saw this Praying Mantis on our iron gate, but although the subject was very interesting, the background wasn't so I put on a garden glove and gently picked him up to move him to a better location...I didn't know those things can fly! And then he had to go and land on my leg. We both survived but he was a little worse for wear. In the last image he has grabbed a broken antenna in his front legs and mandible (do these insects have mandibles?) so zoom in for a better look. I hope he can re-grow it. I guess Larry gets all the pretty insects over on his side of town and I get the less attractive ones, though I do think Praying Mantises are carnivorous and eat mosquitoes so he can stay.Camera info: Nikon D200, 60mm macro lens with +2 closeup filter, at f3.2 and 4.0, ISO 400
Post processing: increased exposure, blacks and clarity in ACR, in Photoshop duplicated the background layers in softlight at 50% or less, sharpened with the Edge and the Highpass filter in softlight
