Black-and-Yellow Mud Dauber Close-up

[Patrick Sparkman]

Yesterday, we had this Black and Yellow-Mud-Dauber get into the house. There are a bunch of these around, so it happens every few days. I caught him (or her...I can't tell) and slowed him down a little in the refrigerator. Then put it on a Butterfly Bush flower that they really love, and took a bunch of shots. I liked this one the best, over the classic side pose. I also got some on a white surface.

Shot with Canon 5DIII, MP-E 65 approximately 2.5X magnification, MT-24 Diffused +2/3, 580 EXII -1 1/3 as slave on the background, f16 1/200 sec ISO 200, very slight crop, processed in Lightroom 4 and Nik Color Pro, removed OOF purple flower in ULH corner using quick mask in PS5.

Thanks for looking. All comments welcome.

[Ed Cordes]

Great DOF and color. Thanks for sharing your methods.

[shane shacaluga]

Lovely shot! Love the purple and yellow contrast and the texture showing in the beige area between the eyes. Was this with a tripod or handheld?

[Patrick Sparkman]

Thanks Ed, Shane,

This was shot handheld, as are all of my shots with this lens.

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Patrick. Love the in-your-face view and you nailed the focus on the head! I, too, really like the purple/yellow color combination plus you have good comp and a clean background. This is very well done! :cheers:

[Jason Stander]

Outstanding shot Patrick... super dof and angle... great detail on the facial features... so so VWD!:w3