APRIL 2023

"The photo is a low angle backlit portrait of a Mantis religiosa next to a small mushroom. I was hiking in an area I visit frequently for macro photography, in a forest near Servia, Greece, when I spotted this female Mantis religiosa. She stopped moving as soon as I approached, trying to avoid me relying on her camouflage. It's a very common species in my area, so I tried to frame it creatively. I went for a low angle shot, utilizing just the natural light that was coming through the trees, and placing my camera in an angle so that the brightest part of the image would be around her head, just like a halo on religious paintings (drawing inspiration from "religiosa"). The mushroom was a nice supporting element in my scene. It helped balance my frame by adding some "weight" on the right side. I used a fast shutter speed (1/2500 sec.) because I was shooting directly towards the light source and didn't want to overexpose my highlights, and a wide aperture (f/2.8) for bigger bokeh balls and selective focus. My post processing was pretty simple, I just boosted the contrast a bit and shifted my white balance slightly towards blue, because I think it works best with the aesthetics of my frame".