Wasp portraits

Images taken in a controlled environment or with a posed subject. All subject types.

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AlxndrBrg
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:17 pm

Wasp portraits

Post by AlxndrBrg »

Two hymenoptera I've collected recently and shot in a fresh state, its a real treat to image them as they appear when alive, instead of the old dried collection specimens.

Image
Chrysis impressa Schenck, 1856 - female
Probably the most common Chrysis species in Sweden, and as is the case with many chrysidids they are even more colourful when not dried as in collections.
Sweden, 2018.V.30
Shot with a Lomo 3,7 extended to 6.5 magnification
Full size image here: https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1734/4066 ... 43a0_o.png

Image
Odynerus melanocephalus (Gmelin, 1790), first time I've come across this species considered to be NT (near threatened) in Sweden. Found at a typical habitat for the species, a brownfield site, this one underneath the Öresunds-bridge that connects Sweden to Denmark. It is not the host of C. impressa but of C. viridula Linnaeus, 1761. The colours look a bit washed out, especially compared to the rainbow party that's the Chrysis above, but it's actually true to life. The yellow colouration varies in this species, some are bright saturated yellow and others, like this individual, have a much more light yellow / bone-white tone.
Sweden, 2018.V.28
Also using the Lomo 3,7 didnt check the actual magnification, but something like 4-5 times I'd think.
Full size image here: https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1759/4171 ... 9983_o.png

Canon 6D, ISO100
Pentacon M42 bellows
Proxxon precision table for stepping
Lit with IKEA Jansjö LED's, diffused with a simple paper cylinder
around 2 second exposures to allow for micro-vibrations from the EFCS start to die down
stacked in ZerenStacker, retouched using both PMax and Dmap, and further edited in PS


Some more shots here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/69669232@N06/[/i]

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

Beautiful images and interesting to see the Lomo pushed up that far.

mawyatt
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Location: Clearwater, Florida

Post by mawyatt »

Very nice images :D

Agree with Lou that the Lomo 3.7 is certainly showing nicely at higher magnifications :)

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

AlxndrBrg
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:17 pm

Post by AlxndrBrg »

Thanks!

Yes, I'm very happy with how far its possible to push the little Lomo, both up and down in magnification.

This image is at 2.3x
Image

Full size: https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1737/2857 ... 62e0_o.png

mawyatt
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Location: Clearwater, Florida

Post by mawyatt »

Nice, did you see any vignetting on FF when pushed down to 2.3X?

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

AlxndrBrg
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:17 pm

Post by AlxndrBrg »

Hard to say as I used a black background for these sets, but there appears to not be any darkening of the corners. When I pushed up the histogram to view the background there's no vignetting, as the background isnt 0/0/0 black it would have shown up I'd think.


(this is not one of the images used in the stack above, the images used for that one had the animal much more centred)
Image

AlxndrBrg
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:17 pm

Post by AlxndrBrg »

Did a real test;

at 2.3x mag (which is around 100 mm from the sensor to the Lomo's shoulder)

images taken from a single, totally unprocessed image that shows the vignetting and the difference in sharpness between the corner and centre. Saved as quality 12 jpg's, so they should be close to the original.

Left image shows the lower left corner (green square), the right is somewhat central (red square)
Image

Image

I set the corner to be as sharp as possible and then chose an area close to the centre that was in focus as well. Oh and the printed paper slip is not flat at all, so I cant say anything about the image flatness, but that doesnt really matter for stacking anyway

mawyatt
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Location: Clearwater, Florida

Post by mawyatt »

Thats not bad at all. Thanks for taking the time to show this.

Best,
Research is like a treasure hunt, you don't know where to look or what you'll find!
~Mike

JH
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Post by JH »

Very nice pictures - and thanks for the extra information about the insects and the Lomo.

Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo

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