... but to be honest, the Mantis has found me. I was looking at a flower at the side of the path at the Reservoir when I noticed a movement right in front of my feet, which obviously was the Mantis. Such a small thing - I would never have seen her in the grass if her green color had not been brighter than the green of the grass.
I thought "will she bite me if I grab her?" But of course, I knew that Mantises don't bit people and they are not venomous either. So I put my hand in front of the green beauty and she climbed on it at once. It was still early in the morning and she might have liked the warmth of my hand.
Four hand held taken photos manually focus stacked in Photoshop. I thought I had taken a sharp photo of the middle part of the Mantis too 😉
I made a few quick hand held shots of her on my hand and then I put the Mantis on the flower below which she has been sitting in the grass, waiting for me to come by 😉
All photos on this page are shot hand held and the two above are focus stacked images (Focus stacking - Wikipedia). I know they are far from sharp focus stacked images, but as said, I shot them hand held and the little green lady was moving on the flower.
After a few photos I took her and put the Mantis on another flower for some more photos and then I put her in the grass further away from the path. Now that I know that there are Mantises in that area I will certainly keep an eye open for them.
The whole photoshoot took about 10 minutes and I didn't stress the insect - if the Mantis had not wanted to climb on my hand I wouldn't have forced her.
Â