Studio Paper Wasp

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Manual mode
1/200"
F16
ISO 200
Canon 430EX: On, Fired
HH
ACR and CS5

Having been inspired by Steve's fantastic studio images, I thought I'd see what I could come up with. There aren't many bugs to be found right now but the occasional critter shows up when the temps climb into the 50's. I chilled the wasp in the refrigerator for a few minutes to slow it down. From the time the wasp warms enough to pose naturally to the time it decides it's time to fly away is about 30 seconds so I had to shoot fast! I put the wasp on a small piece of white foam board so I could move it into position or rotate it.

Shot in my lightbox with the flash attached to the camera and pointed up at the top of the box. Here's the lightbox design I'm using.

http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/

Cropped, curves, contrast, high-pass and smart sharpening.

[Julie Kenward]

Giving Steve a run for his money I see! Very nice image, Ken. I especially like the angle of the wasp as I can see so many different parts in clear detail. I'm surprised this was shot at f16, though...as so much of the back half is not as sharp as your normal insect images. A little more DOF and this would be a real showstopper.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Ken. It looks like you nailed it! Obviously, your light box design works very well. I'm glad you can still find some subjects to photograph - up here, everything has been frozen solid for at least a month. Be careful with this type of photography though - it can quickly become addictive!! :bg3: The wasp gave you a very nice pose and I like the angle of view. Very good sharpness within your DOF. The DOF at f/16 looks about right to me for this sort of photo. The only thing I can suggest to increase depth (without increasing the f/stop and then dealing with the resulting defraction issues) is to shoot the subject from a few inches farther away - and then cropping more in PP. This works pretty well if you have a lot of pixels to work with. This is very well done and I hope to see more of these! :cheers:

[bhavya joshi]

I saw One good advantage in this Studio image... The focus parts of body can see perfect... clear!!! .. no more any distract dots or any others dust..as compare to habitat shot..I like habitat shot. but this sometimes this type of image nailed it...:c3: Ken..

[Dave Leroy]

A tough looking critter and I hope you took the shot outdoors. Focus and sharpness look spot on and I really like the nice colors of the wasp. Ken thanks for also including the details of the set up. Very detailed instructions and economical as well.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Ken, very well done! I think the image could use an extra round of sharpening. I would also centre the wasp by adding canvas on the left and losing some on the right. I like that the wasp turns his head.
There is quite some controversion on chilling animals for photo setups here in the Netherlands. We had an incident last year with nature photographers chilling tree frogs to death using liquid nitrogen, just to get a nice picture.....

[Ken Childs]

Thanks y'all!

Dave, the shot was taken in my basement office. :S3:

Jerry, the people freezing frogs with liquid nitrogen should be shot! That's going way too far just to get a nice photo!
I had sharpened this one a bit more but backed off because the extra sharpness didn't feel right with all that whiteness. I'm not sure why that is and I guess it's just a matter of taste. :S3:

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Ken, most sharpening algorithms increase (micro)contrast, which can make images like this, where the contrast between subject and BG is already large, look quite harsh.

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Excellent pose and angle, good details and DOF works for me. Thanks for sharing the techs about how you shoot this.

[Brendan Dozier]

Real nice work, Ken, great detail and like the pose and tilt to it's head. Love how this technique gives you such a clear view. Good suggestions above to get more dof, but still very nicely done!