Closeup of European Wasp

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WeeHector

Senior Member
I took this photo a few days ago but only had a chance to look at it yesterday. Couldn't post it here until today due to the 24 hour rule, though it has been in my gallery since yesterday evening.

Macro-photography has always been one of my passions but never had the material to do it. I'm waiting for a big fat cheque to drop into my bank account in the next few days and I will then be able to buy a macro lens. For the moment I am having to make do with the 18-55 VR. I haven't read many good reviews about this lens, though I, myself, am amazed with what it can achieve. Perhaps I was supplied a dud and should send it back for replacement? ;)

This photo was taken on a boat, which explains a couple of things. The black object, on which the wasp is perched, is the plastic end of a boathook. The background, beautifully out of focus, is formica.

I have looked at this photo for a number of hours to find faults/ errors and can only come up with one; taken using AF, the antenna and the body appear to be in focus, though the face seems to be slightly out of focus. Is this really the case or is it just my extremely bad eyesight?

Looking forward, as always, to your views, good and bad. And a big thanks to Mr Wasp whom I tormented for a good 15 minutes. Thinking of becoming a Buddhist, as I can't see me ever killing a wasp again after taking this photo. :love-struck:

Wasp 3.jpg

D3100
18-55 VR at 55mm, VR on
1/60th, f10, ISO 100
Aperture Priority mode + flash
Hand-held
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
I suspect the blurriness has more to do with the shot being that slow of a shutter and hand held. I would have bumped up the ISO to something faster; 200, 320, maybe even 400 to get that faster shutter and freeze YOUR slight movements.
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
OK, after having looked at the photo, two things jumped out at me right away. One, the colour was off. Two, it lacked sharpness. This is how I corrected it. Compare the two shots and decide which one you like better.

Wasp 3a.jpg Wasp 3.jpg

See the difference? :)
 
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WeeHector

Senior Member
fotojack said:
OK, after having looked at the photo, two things jumped out at me right away. One, the colour was off. Two, it lacked sharpness. This is how I corrected it. Compare the two shots and decide which one you like better.

View attachment 39748
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comment. I am now shooting in NEF and open all my photos in View NX2. My first reflex is to bump up sharpness to 10 and in almost every case it works. However, in this case, I felt it was a bit extreme and left it at 4. Likewise with colour. I raised the vibrance level a bit to boost the yellow but not too much. I remember visiting relatives in the early days of colour TV and was shocked to find that the contrast was always turned up to max so reds, greens and blues were fluorescent. It's left a scar on me and I like colours to be more subdued.

The boat-hook head is black and not blue as it becomes in your edit and blue begins to replace black on the wasp's body. Doesn't work for me but others may and probably will disagree. That is the joy of photography; it is like wine; some will spit out vintage wines while happily downing cheap plonk. Who is right and who is wrong? It's all a matter of taste.

By the way, you can get this photo in higher res in my gallery.
 
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WeeHector

Senior Member
fotojack said:
OK, I'll go along with your assessment. :) I color corrected it again. How's this? :)

View attachment 39766
Click to expand...

Okay with me. Perhaps one of the problems with trying to correct colour and luminosity is the use of laptops. Depending on the angle of the screen these will change and what one sees does not always reflect what one will upload.

However, on the point of colour and contrast. Should the person who took the photo, who was there on the spot, who knows what the colours really are, who knows what the lighting conditions were, who has an emotional input into the shot and who has seen the photo in full 12 Mega-pixel resolution...? Get my gist?

Okay, we submit our photos for critique, though they are in jpeg and in reduced format, often hiding major details and the image is not always shown in the original colours. Just one of the hazards of the trade, but I would really like more input on the 12 points of critique. 0 points out of 12 for the moment, which doesn't really help me become a better photographer.

Please don't take this as personal criticism. I need all the photographic help and advice I can get as long as it is constructive.
 
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