How to Photograph Mantis Shrimp?

[jlovell]

OK, here's one for everyone who has mantis shrimp and posts those great shots of them doing cool things in their tank. I have a digital camera and out of the last oh let's say 60 pictures I have taken, about 4 have been good enough to identify "Manty" as a mantis shrimp. On the rest, he's the stunt double for the blob.

Here's my best effort to date.

So, how do you photograph a mantis (using a digital camera) and have your shots turn out?

I'm looking for very technical and detailed answers here. How far are you from the tank (digital cameras focus on the surface and the mantis can be up to 12" behind the front glass.)? What are your camera settings? What sized picture are you taking? What camera are you using? How far are you from the tank? What tricks if any do you do with the image afterwards to get the closeup of the mantis?

Simply put, spill it! How are you getting the really good, detailed, colorful closeups of your shrimp?

Jay

 

[sdm]

dunno. My mantis just seems to like to pose.

 

[amcarrig]

Re: How to Photograph Mantis Shrimp?

OK, here's one for everyone who has mantis shrimp and posts those great shots of them doing cool things in their tank. I have a digital camera and out of the last oh let's say 60 pictures I have taken, about 4 have been good enough to identify "Manty" as a mantis shrimp. On the rest, he's the stunt double for the blob.

Here's my best effort to date.

So, how do you photograph a mantis (using a digital camera) and have your shots turn out?

I'm looking for very technical and detailed answers here. How far are you from the tank (digital cameras focus on the surface and the mantis can be up to 12" behind the front glass.)? What are your camera settings? What sized picture are you taking? What camera are you using? How far are you from the tank? What tricks if any do you do with the image afterwards to get the closeup of the mantis?

Simply put, spill it! How are you getting the really good, detailed, colorful closeups of your shrimp?

Jay

I usually take a whole bunch of pictures and only end up with a few good shots regardless of what I'm trying to photograph.

What I do when photographing my mantis is sit and wait...a lot : ) Once the mantis decides to come out to see what I'm up to, I put the camera as close to the glass as possible, point the lens away from the lights and start snapping. I set my camera (a Nikon CoolPix 3100) to macro mode and take several shots both with and without the flash.