Solitary Wasp

[Steve Maxson]

I found this cooperative small solitary wasp on a cool morning. There are many species of small wasps like this and they are almost always on the move hunting in the vegetation - it is very seldom that one stops long enough to be photographed. 1DX Mark 2, 100 mm macro, 1/125, f/14, ISO 160, Venus Optics Macro Twin Lite KX-800 (diffused), hand held, AF. I cleaned up some small bits of debris on the leaf. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nice clean image, excellent detail... I like the symmetry of the leaf and the wasp. Thank you for sharing, Steve.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Excellent quality Steve, I like the lighting too (just checked the new toy out!) just love the detail in the antennae.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Beautiful work Steve...how do you like the Venus Optics Macro Twin Lights?

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments Joseph, Jon, and Andrew!:S3:

Andrew: I just started using this flash unit a couple weeks ago and am still experimenting with it. So far, I think it works quite well with my 100 mm lens. I'm using a simple diffuser as described in this video clip by Thomas Shahan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JbJzENXjz8 The unit is relatively inexpensive and is totally manual - but it's very easy to adjust the power output from the flashes to suit the subject you are photographing.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks Steve...I too have begun playing around with the tracing paper diffuser...it is quite effective :)