Proof that wasps are indeed the gardener's friend...

..that is, when they are not eating his plums (and apples and pears etc) This evening I was standing by my sweetpeas with my camera in my hand bemoaning the fact that they had aphids, but pleased that there were some good photographic opportunities to be had, when this wasp appeared and grabbed an aphid. I literally had about 5 seconds to focus manually and grab two shots, then it was off.

Sigma SD14 dslr
Sigma 50 EX macro lens
Sigma ring flash
Hand held
F18
1/200s
ISO50
Manual focus
RAW adjustment in
SPP3.5
Cropped in PS Elements 5
Framed with Xara Xtreme Pro 5

Wow - psychedelic colours - I like this one .

Hi David,
Looks like a bit of quick thinking on your part has bagged a good, colourful image.

Colours are stunning love the pose caught,great capture in the time you had David

Great detail, great action. Dare I say it, (having almost broken my neck trying to view it upside down) it may well work if you invert it. Very vibrant colours, though i find the blue a bit distracting. Well seen and taken.
Robert

Cracking capture. Nice to see one doing something useful instead of being chased around my kitchen!

Simon

Thanks lads for your valued comments.

Robert, I did think of inverting it but that would be misleading the viewer IMHO. I like to record the minutiae of nature as it is, not what I would like it to be. Cupani sweet peas, see http://www.sweetpea-seed.com/heirloom/cupani.html, seem to take on an almost fluorescent colour in a still summer's evening like today's here.

WOW David

what a wonderfull shot. I must go stake out the roses as i think they have aphids on them!!!!! LOL

K

Agree with Robert about the blue but a cracking and colourful image nonetheless. Have learnt something as I didn't think wasps had any use in this life other than stinging people.

Hi David,

another big and colourful image

Great capture of very interesting behaviour

David
I,ve come back to this one a dozen times. I.m sorry but it just looks too saturated to me.
My monitor really needs looking at. Will be sorted next week.
Its not just the blue bit . The flash has obviously emphasised everything, and I think the yellow in the frame maybe clashes with the yellow in the shot too.
Sorry mate but that's how I see it. Thats some more bad marks for Robbo.
Cheers
john

Just a thought, is the wasping eating the aphid or milking it for honey dew like ants do? - it seems to have clasped it by the rear end rather than aggressively chomping on it

whatever & saturation aside another great macro shot

Great shot.

very interesting behaviour David and you did well to focus so quickly and get this shot. Mike raises an interesting point though, did you see the wasp actually eat the aphid or could it have been simply after the honeydew?

The colours do look oversaturated to me, but easily fixed.

Matt

Thanks lady & gentlemen for your valued comments and yes even yours John.

Colour perception is a fascinating subject and can, and has been, be discussed endlessly.
Viewed close up it can be construed as being over saturated. Of those that do, as can be seen by the above comments, some see it as a positive thing, some negative and some are ambivalent about it. I leave it to the viewer to judge. If you stand away from the screen the image looks fine to me.

John, you comment as you see fit, so no bad marks at all. The flash was used as emphasis to allow me to use f18 for the DOF and detail. Unfortunately things happened so fast there was no time to adjust the strength of it, it was focus and pray. Under the
circumstances I think it turned out OK. Not great but OK. IMHO. The blue petal is slightly distracting, but not a problem to a PS expert which I am not.

Any PS expert out there please feel free to improve on it, apart from inverting it.

Mike, you definitely have a point, but if you look at both front and rear of the wasp's mandible the aphid looks crushed, to me. Anyway the wasp flew off and took the aphid with it, so that was a help as far as I am concerned. I see wasps as opportunists rather than
conservers, like Matt's ants, so I would think the aphid ended up being eaten, but that is only conjecture on my part.

Thanks again for your interest.

Hello David
I'm fairly sure that you are the only photographer on here with the SD14, but if your images are anything to go by, I'm surprised more aren't being used!
This is another super wildlife in action macro shot, which I like.
I have to admit that the colours look a little over sauturated to me too, but, as you say, take a step back and they look fine.
Best wishes
Phil

Thanks Phil. As an erstwhile Nikon FM2n film slr user, I find the Sigma SD14 its closest digital equivalent, albeit not fully mechanical like that is. I am considering buying the DP2 at the moment as a pocketable camera I can carry with me all the time. Now that Sigma have bought Foveon there are interesting times ahead in Sigmaland. These cameras are not for everyone, but for those that are prepared to work at them, the rewards are excellent.