Golden Wasp sipping water...

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twebster
Posts: 442
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:02 am
Location: Phoenix "Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Golden Wasp sipping water...

Post by twebster »

Image

Hi y'all, :D

I was sitting at a desert waterhole waitng (fruitlessly) for some birds to come to water. While waiting I watched an endless procession of Golden Wasps alighting on the surface of the waterhole, sipping water, and taking back off to parts unknown. I just loved their reflections in the water. The wasps were a good 15' to 18' away. I had my 500mm set up on a tripod for birds and didn't want to upset that set up. I, also, did not want to get up from wehre I was sitting to move closer and photograph the wasps. Instead, I mounted my 300mm lens and 1.4x teleconverter on my 20D and photographed the wasps from where I sat.

I actually shot this handheld with a monopod. This crop is the center 800 x 600 pixels from the full frame image, 3519 x 2345 pixels. This is the same as cropping an 8" x 10" print out of the middle of a 49" x 33" print! I added just a hair of USM in Photoshop and used NoiseNinja to soften some of the image noise. This was made on the 20D using my 300mm f 4L non-IS lens + 1.4x teleconverter. I used ISO 400, 1/1600 sec @ f 8 (1 stop down from wide open aperture) to make the exposure. I just love those Canon L-series telephoto lenses :!: :D

Enjoy, my friends :!: :D
Tom Webster

Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

The worst day photographing dragonflies is better than the best day working! :)

beetleman
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Location: Southern New Hampshire USA

Post by beetleman »

An Incredible picture Tom. There must be a lot of surface tension on the watering hole. I have never seen a wasp just land right on the water...have seen them on the edge :shock: The ripples add a lot to the picture IMO.
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

Moebius
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Post by Moebius »

Tom,

Wonderful pic with cropping to that extent. I wish I could be outside enjoying nature...starting to green up here though.

I do have a question with you 49" x 33" print statement. Wouldn't an 800 x 600 crop out of an original 3519 x 2345 pixel image be equivalent to cropping an 8" x 10" print out of an approximate 35" x 39" print? Not much practical difference I suppose; just trying to understand the logic.

Ken Nelson

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Tom, to get this shot from 15 feet away is just astonishing -- and quite wonderful!

Ken, about the cropping, I get it as being equivalent to 8.4" x 11.2" out of 33" x 49" in, or 7.5" x 10" out of 29" x 44".

Anything out of 35" x 39" doesn't work -- those dimensions have the wrong aspect ratio versus the pixel counts. :?

Whatever it is, it's a little piece of a big print, and it still looks great! :D

--Rik

twebster
Posts: 442
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:02 am
Location: Phoenix "Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

Post by twebster »

Hi y'all, :D

I was supposed to be in SE Arizona, today, but high winds forced me home :!: :x

OK, gentlemen, I did my math too quickly. At 72 ppi the full frame image measures 48.875" x 32.569". The 800 x 600 pixel crop measures 8.33" x 11.11". It's still a pretty darn small crop to pull out of a large image file :!: :D

I'm off to ply my trade at the Gilbert Water Ranch today. Lower winds! :D

Best regards to all as always, :D
Tom Webster

Phoenix "The Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA

The worst day photographing dragonflies is better than the best day working! :)

Cyclops
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Post by Cyclops »

That is really neat, and i looks so BIG!
Reminds me of lions at a serengeti watering hole!
Canon 30D | Canon IXUS 265HS | Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Slik 88 tripod | Apex Practicioner monocular microscope

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