Sometimes an opportunity presents itself and as a photographer you have to react. This locust decided to hitchhike a ride on my truck which provided me the perfect opportunity to get some colorful shots.

I was driving home when my wife said with excitement in her voice "look out your window!"  To my disbelief, hanging on to my window for it's life, was a locust. Traveling at 45 miles an hour, this locust was walking along my window trying to find a position that did not have as much wind draft.  When I pulled into my driveway, this locust was still with me and began to explore every aspect of my truck.  I quickly grabbed my camera and began shooting the travels of this locust.

Shooting this insect was interesting because at times it almost seemed as if it was posing.  I had to be very patient, since locust move very slowly.  The biggest issue I had was getting close enough to capture the detailed colors.  I shot the locust with my Canon EOS 7D. I first used my Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Telephoto Lens, then switched to my 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens.  Following this shoot, I am now considering the purchase of a quality macro lens.  My 70-300mm did not give me the depth of field that I was looking for and my 18-135mm did not allow me to get as close as I wanted to be, even though there is macro setting on the lens.  My disappointment after reviewing the pictures was that I could not get what I consider a "sharp-as-a-tack" picture.  I would rate the quality of these images at a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.  I do like the color and composition.  A few images were post processed with an HDR program to enhance some color and show detail in shadows.

I'm hoping I get the opportunity again to get images of the locust, while also hoping it does not eat all of my plants.  Keep the camera handy, you never know when an opportunity is going to present itself. 

Let me know if you have had any similar photography experiences.

Click here if you would like to see the images of the locust.

Enjoy and remember,

"Moments in time are lived once. Images of those moments live forever."

Ed H.