[Update: Although the female mantis does prey upon the male after a romantic encounter, the insect is actually a praying mantis.]
We found this preying praying mantis in our New Zealand kitchen a few years back. While my wife held the stick, I shot it with my Hasselblad medium format camera, with bellows attachment, against a black background (a pillow off of our sofa). I think the film would have been Fuji Velvia 400, but I'm not sure. I used off-camera flash. The mantis was 1.5 inches long.
Scanned the slide using an Agfa scanner, then cropped and sharpened in Photoshop (would have been one of the early versions I believe).
Click on the thumbnail for a larger version.
