1st post here... (56K warning)

Hi to all.

Intro:

My name is Joao, i'm from Portugal, going on 30 and i'm a system's administrator for a civil engenier multinacional company with photography as a hobby.
In photography i prefer macro but i do a bit of everything.

I started with photography about 11 year's ago with a analog Kodak camera, made the "jump" to digital with a small Canon P&S (1.3 Mpixel) that i still have (sentimental value) and been moving "up" since then. At the moment my main setup is a Canon 20D and either the Canon 70-200 f4L or the Sigma 150 f2.8 macro with and without Kenko extention tubes always with a Sigma 500 Super external flash (couldn't buy the Canon one... 2 expensive here in Portugal).

This is my 1st post here, and i hope this is only the 1st of many.
Thank's.

Some photos:

All photos are taken in the wild, my apartment is so small that i couldn't make a small studio in it if i wanted one....

#1 - Paper Wasp (found out i'm alergic to these little criter's... ended up staying in the hospital for 2 and 1/2 hour's the day i got this photo)

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Welcome to POTN Joao and thanks for showing us some of your excellent macro work. Sorry about your allergic reaction......the price we pay for our hobby

Excellent Series, I think #5 & #6 are my favourite

The Soldier fly would be called a Hoverfly here. Like the silhouette shot of the mantis. I would imagine the Sigma 180 is hard to hold steady - do you mainly use it with a tripod?

wow....i love the mantis.... looks like some kind of alien...
btw, i think u have great potential.... some of the shots have great impact like the tree frog(my fav too), mantis and spider.... just need to better control your exposure and watch out for positioning the subjects too much at the center....

Welcome You have some awesome pics I really like the frog, but it is too bad that you didn't get all of it in the frame

Tkz for the welcome and c & c

Racketman: nope, all hand held, never tryed to use a tripod or monopod in these kind of shots... will give it a try next time but i think i will miss many shot's due to the time needed to set up the tripod or monopod and adjust it.

Welcome to the forum. Amazing first post- wonderful series of shots and something a little different with the first mantis shot
Brian V.

What a great entry! Very nice photos!

Lovely set. I have a friend who grows brassicae and would probably start whispering "Kill, kill.." at the small white butterfly
My favourite is shot three which is surreal, and very imaginative.

Very nice indeed. I love that mantis silhouette... brings back memories of the Aliens movies.

How did you manage to be stung by the wasp? That Sigma 150 has a 40cm working distance. I wouldn't imagine you'd be giving them much of a reason to be aggressive at that distance.

jpvaz wrote:
Tkz for the welcome and c & c

Racketman: nope, all hand held, never tryed to use a tripod or monopod in these kind of shots... will give it a try next time but i think i will miss many shot's due to the time needed to set up the tripod or monopod and adjust it.

I agree - supports are only really useable if subject is stationary. I only asked because that is a heavy lens for macro and your shots are sharp.

excellent series! Love #3, it looks like something out of a movie...return of the giant mantis.

great series............ I really like the frog and the jumping spider... (looks pregnant)
I think the last spider is some kind of wolf spider

Lovely series, #5, 6 and 10 are outstanding! Thanks for sharing!

Dave