Beetle wasp

prafulmsp1022 · Post by **prafulmsp1022** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 7:24 am

Camera : Nikon 7000
Lens : 4x objective with 140 mm bellows
Aperture : f/2.8
Shutter : 1.6"
Lighting : Daylight fluorescent
Stack : 150 -Helicon.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 11:34 am

Hhmm...

I'm not sure what sort of feedback to provide here. Wasp faces contain a wealth of interesting detail, hardly any of which can be seen in this image. Compare for example against http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... 6240#36240 or http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... .php?t=243.

Why did you make this picture, and how well does it meet your goals?

--Rik

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:52 pm

Praful, thank you for the offline discussion explaining that this hornet was embedded in Lucite.

Being embedded in plastic explains almost almost everything I see odd about this picture. What happens in plastic embedding is that the insect is submerged in liquid and hence looks wet. Then during the curing process, the hard plastic often separates slightly from the subject, thus producing a layer of air that acts like a mirror. This is particularly prone to happen on smooth and shiny surfaces, such as we see here with the eyes. Finally the thick layer of dense media introduces optical distortions that degrade the image quality, especially away from center where light meets the plastic at an angle. The slight smearing of detail on the antenna at right is likely caused by this issue.

--Rik

prafulmsp1022 · Post by **prafulmsp1022** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 11:59 am

I wish to apologise to all viewers that I have inadvertently given the name of the insect as 'Beetle Wasp ' whereas the real name is " Black Shield Wasp ". Again, very sorry for the mistake.