The horned thorn

[Prajwal J Ullal]

ID: Stick insect(close up)

A closer look of the stick insect that I had encountered during the short trip to Hubli. The beauty had perched itself amongst the thorny shrub, blending well into the ambience. On closer look it also seemed to have thorny horns which, though stubby and short, almost making it part of the thorny shrub. The front limbs had these jagged, saw tooth like edges probably a way to keep the predators away? The natural sway that these insects move, to make them feel more like the part of the plant or shrub, makes it, sometimes, difficult to frame them, especially when there is a light breeze of air flowing around.
You can check few interesting facts about these intriguing species in the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxs0Q7ktaKU&t=33s

EXIF:
Canon 80D
Canon 100mm macro + Raynox
F/16
Shutterspeed 1/200
ISO 320
Handheld, External flash fired

Location: Hubli Outskirts

[Mrudul Godbole]

It is so amazingly camouflaged like a thorny shrub (with the thorny horns which look like real thorns), that to a untrained eye it will be impossible to spot. Are you able to spot them from a distance? Nicely captured. Thanks for sharing.

P.S - Some dust spots visible on the top part of the frame.

[Prajwal J Ullal]

Dust particles have been a major issue with my high magnification frames, and based on the trend I feel the Raynox has got some micro scratches that are causing it, not completely sure though

[Sabyasachi Patra]

When you use narrow apertures the dust spots become much more prominent. And when you crop the dust spots will also become prominent. Since we are posting shots with upto 2000 pixels, we don't need to crop to make the subject look bigger. When you watch photos printed big, you will realise that images where the subject occupies anywhere between 1/3rd to say 50% of the frame looks nice with the habitat. It seems your raynox is causing softness due to inferior optics as well as due to the higher magnification exposing more photographic flaws as in normal times small flaws goes unnoticed.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi