Cleaning up

[Steve Maxson]

While observing Yellowjackets foraging on goldenrod flowers, I noticed that every so often they would stop to clean off their antennae by stroking them with their front legs - as this one is doing. Typical yellowjackets (Genus Vespula) nest underground. This one, however, is called an Aerial Yellowjacket (Dolichovespula arenaria) and builds above-ground nests. It is in the same Genus as Bald-faced Hornets and Parasitic Yellowjackets (see one of my recent posts for an image of this species). 40D, Canon 180mm macro, 1/60, f/8, ISO 400. Macro twin flash. Hand held. I removed some flash-generated specular highlights. Comments are welcome.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Steve, very cool behavioral shot. Nice details,colors and BG. Like the position and catch light in the eyes.

[Dave Leroy]

Very nice shot Steve. I really like how sharp it is where you need it to be sharp. I am trying to figure out when a photo has a colour cast or not, so I am curious to know, if you don't mind, how you knew this did not have a yellow cast? Tks, Dave

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I enjoy both the educational part as well as the image Steve. Great sharpness and colours. Maybe Dave sees a colour cast from all the yellow reflecting off the flower???

[Julie Kenward]

Well done, Steve! Look at those catchlights and the perfect focus on the little hairs around his face. I saw one of these not too long ago but couldn't get my shutter speed high enough to get those antenna this sharp. You really nailed this one.

[Steve Maxson]

I am trying to figure out when a photo has a colour cast or not, so I am curious to know, if you don't mind, how you knew this did not have a yellow cast? Tks, Dave

Hi Dave. Hmm, I hadn't thought about color casts, though I'll grant you that there is a lot of yellow in this image. Someone better at Photoshop than me could likely tell you how you might check for color casts. For what it's worth, I went back and checked the raw file to see if I had inadvertently introduced a cast during PP, but the raw file is just as yellow as this final version.

[Julie Kenward]

Dave, there are a few different ways to check for color casts. The easiest way is to open the image in Camera Raw and use the eye dropper to touch on a place in the image that is a neutral gray (I believe 18% gray is the technical term.) You can really take this up a notch by using a white card - especially one that has a setting for Camera Raw - then you click the eyedropper on the area of the white card and the colors automatically fall in line.

However...I've often found that I like certain color casts in certain images. Right now with all the autumnal colors out you'll see the light in your images leaning more towards the yellow side while during winter they tend to be cooler and have more of a blue cast.

Another way to check for color casts is to open levels and use the white, gray or black eyedroppers to touch an area in your image that matches those same tones and it should also line up the colors for you...but, again...it's always best to use your judgment and go with what artistically looks the best.

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

[Steve Maxson]

Hey Jules, thanks for jumping in with this info for Dave. :)

[Dave Leroy]

Thanks to both Jules and Steve about the colour cast. I had thought that there may be both a technical solution as well as some subjectivity in the final analysis. I am sure my monitor is fine; it is my eye that requires some training. Thanks Again. Dave