Paper Wasp

[Steve Maxson]

This is a male Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) that my daughter was keeping as a pet. Males are not able to sting - though my daughter notes that they still retain the behavior of trying to sting if they feel threatened. 7D, 100 mm macro, 1/200, f/16, ISO 100, light box, 2 remotely fired flashes, hand held. All comments are welcome and appreciated.


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[Satish Ranadive]

Marvelous creation.Great set up.Love the colors,details and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Marina Scarr]

Really well done, Steve. Maybe seeing insects in this kind of "light" will help alleviate my fear. You have great DOF here and the wasp stands out so well against that white BG. Great use of flash and I really like the composition.

Seeing as this was a "pet" which is just beyond my comprehension and even though you mention it doesn't sting, how do you get a wasp to stand still for you?

[Ken Childs]

Steve, this is another great studio bug shot! I like the even lighting and the lack of spectral highlights you're getting with this setup. I think I might like this better if you took a little off the right and added some to the bottom....it feels a bit too centered as it is now. One minor nit about the subject is the point where the front antenna intersects with the rear leg.....I know how difficult it is to get these things to pose without having something crossed. :S3:

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice indeed excellent focus and DOF. I haven't seen one of these little guys but I am wondering if the blacks are a little brown? Probably me showing my ignorance but should the blacks be a little darker perhaps?? I like the vague shadow under the insect, I think it helps to show the 3D.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments folks. They are much appreciated - as always.

Marina - My daughter has always had pets like this - it's kind of her trademark :S3: - she is now 25 and pondering Graduate School in an Entomology program. This particular wasp was not a strong flier and could be easily handled. For the photo shoot, I put it under a petri dish in the light box for a few minutes and it settled down. After I removed the petri dish, it posed nicely for several minutes. For more active bees and wasps (with stingers), I typically put them in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to slow them down. Then you may have a brief time to photograph before they warm up and fly away - more than once I've had to chase them down in the house to recapture them. All in a day's work for a biologist. :bg3: I haven't been stung by any of them - so far.

Jon - I don't think the "dark" colors are too far off - as I recall, they did have some brownish tones. (Though now I'm wishing I had a live specimen to double check this.) They were not the dark "black" that one would see in a yellowjacket, for example. :S3:

[Jerry van Dijk]

Wonderful capture Steve! I'm impressed by the beauty of all the color patterns on this wasp. It's good to see you've raised your children well! My eight year old son is regularly hovering over a bowl of leaves in the backyard he keeps to nurture a whole range of bugs.