Parasitic Yellowjacket

[Steve Maxson]

Parasitic Yellowjacket (Dolichovespula adulterina) may seem an odd name for a wasp with no yellow coloration, but its behavior is a bit different as well. This species has only females (queens) and males. No worker class is produced. The photo is of a female. Early in the nesting season a female will invade the nest of a host species (Aerial Yellowjackets are one of the host species in this county) before the host workers have emerged. She kills the host queen and takes over the nest. When the host workers emerge, they care for and feed the larvae produced from the parasitic queen's eggs. 40D, Canon 180mm macro, 1/100, f/8, ISO 400. Macro twin flash. Hand held. I removed some flash-generated spectral highlights. Comments are welcome.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Wonderful image, Steve and very interesting background information on the subject. Compliments on not getting the whites blown while keeping wonderful detail in the blacks!
I find myself wishing for a tiny bit more DOF, at least enough to get the front leg in focus and maybe even that wonderful antenna. Generally, I don't mind some OOF twigs in the BG, but this one intersects with you subject (adding DOF like I suggest would have made this worse by the way) and is difficult to clone out with all the hairs in front. Could have been solved by getting a slightly different angle, or wait until the wasp crawled up a bit further.
Kind regards,

Jerry.

[Julie Kenward]

I defnitely agree with Jerry on this one, Steve. You've got a great insect on a clean plant with a good BG - except for the one leaf running right up his back. It really does break the rhythm of the eye here. If it had been darker like the other leaf in the center BG I think all would be well but it really catches your attention because of the light, bright color. You could try toning it down but, as Jerry mentioned, there isn't really a good way to get around those fine body hairs.

That said, it's still nicely photographed from an exposure standpoint and I like the choice of crop here. I might consider taking a sliver off the right side of the frame to move him a little more to the right but only a tiny bit. As always, I enjoy hearing the stories and facts about these insects - it really does help my interest in photographing them when I know a little something about them!

[Paul Burgess]

Agree about the BG grass, but this is still great!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Really sharp with great exposure. Agree about the stem, but didn't notice it really until it was mentioned. Liked the story behind the yellow jacket.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Stephen, very nice find, and have to agree on the blade of grass. If it would have stood still, you could have remove the grass, but I doubt that would be posible. I like the nice sharp details and good BG.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks everyone for your constructive comments. :)

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

My dream macro lens!
Great story and wasp. I agree about the blade behind the wasp. A clone job there would be risky.