Thank you for all your comments – I really do hope that no one has nightmares as a result!
Dave (DavidU) - The praying mantis was on one of my wife’s plants, under the patio and it remained there long enough for me to crawl around it and shoot a few angles. I even managed my first praying mantis mosaic, although leg movement between frames caused some alignment problems as did the shifting perspective of the background.
Humayun – #5 is the 1st time I’ve used Off Camera Flash (OCF with the 580 EXII) rather than the ring flash and as you have noted, the lighting is a gazillion times more pleasing. The dragon fly eating a moth (#6) was taken in early morning daylight, contre-jour with the 40D on-board pop up flash acting as a fill in. The rest were taken with the ring flash.
The ring flash is a highly portable and compact unit but produces flat, harsh light compared to the 580 EX OCF, although with the 580 EX fitted on my home made flash bracket, I keep whacking the surrounding shrubbery thus scaring off the insects!
Cheers
Dennis