Special Bug Announcement!!

We are the proud step-parents of a family of baby mantids. Paladian saw three out there this morning. There was nothing much happening in my blip world today, so I tried to wrest the 100 mm lens off her, but "no way" she said. "Ok," I said, "you do the blip seeing you have been stalking these critters for hours today". "OK" she said. And so it was!

Here it is in handsome large.

We haven't seen Mum or Dad mantis for a while, but we are delighted that the babies are staying with us. Dad may have been taken by a bird. Paladian said they move a lot more quickly than the parents, no doubt thinking the camera is a super big black predator.

They are still very tiny - no more than 2 and a half cm long. I know they are ugly to some people, but they are also kind of cute and interesting in their ugliness. At least they look macho.

THE LIGHTING QUESTION!
Here is how I lit my photo of the glass paper weight on 18th of February.
We have a translucent off-white blind next to my desk that filters the harsh daylight perfectly. I rolled this blind down a little lower to the top of the bookshelf to make a continuous white backdrop with natural light filtering through from behind.

Paladian then held a small LED torch to the left hand side at an angle of 45 degrees to bring out some more highlights in the glass. No flash or any other form of indoor lighting was used. Plus a slow shutter speed and monopod.

Now to the joint winners of my little lighting competition, with thanks to Hobbs for the glass challenge. 3 of you were all close in that you had various aspects of the lighting correct, but not all of it.

One or two suggested an LED type light but that was only one small aspect. I could not separate TINA COX, RAINIE and LEGODUDE in that each of you were pretty close in slightly different ways.
Each will receive a heart on your present or next blips - from my next 3 hearts that are free. Thanks to all of you who took part in offering your suggestions.