Snack Time

DaddyO · February 6, 2013

Been going thru my dated images, have a ton of those, and ran into this effort that showed some promise.
Wasn't till I was detailing it out that I realized this yellow jacket was chowing down on the ants. Not likely a mouth bath

or is it :scratch

Comments always a welcome thing and appreciated

Earache · February 8, 2013

Interesting capture Michael - the other end of the food chain.
Yellow Jackets are a pain-in-the-tush down here.

DaddyO · February 11, 2013

Nice you think so Eric

Thank you for saying.
I like the image myself despite its challenges. We took the shots with a 150mm macro lens I was hoping it to be a stunning sharp lens. It was not. I shot Very Cherry with it too. Which also suffered from soft sharp and serious highlights. So very close to sharp but just enough off to easily dismiss the result and trash them. I would luv to have had any of these images be sharp. Especially the in flight one. Would have been my best or near it Bee picture. I managed to wrestle
a little sharper out with the help of the attributes of CS and one filter in same. The first used 2 filters to get over the hill of decent enough.
Image 2

Image 3 This one should have been the original one up

Didn't think it would take to a crop but it did ok and shows him nibbling away much better.

Know what you mean about these insects being a pain in the butt. Some years we have infestations here and there. Have to watch everything you move outside as there could be a nest close by. One year awhile back we went camping up in the mountains at a wonderful hotsprings. We came in late one summer eve and set up camp so very cozy. The following morning I awoke in our very chilly tent and threw on my cut offs to go visit the lue quick as can be. And just a quick I was being stung but good in those very cut offs multiple times before I could get the hell out of em. Can't say I came away unharmed but I came away unharmed

Certainly didn't feel like a close call

Richard · February 11, 2013

I think I like #2 best. The wing blur is nice and one of the ants has his abdomen raised as if to say, "here comes trouble." Well done.

Earache · February 11, 2013

Now it's a great looking series Michael - nice work!
I agree with Richard about the action in #2 and the magnification in #3 is sweet.
I know what you mean about chasing the sharpness Holy Grail - I have finally convinced myself to never (in my mind) compare my shots to Lord V over on Macro (I think he has help from a supernatural source

)
- but, I think your images are pretty sharp and definitely keepers.
Camping is always an adventure and makes for great stories.

DaddyO · February 11, 2013

Richard wrote: »

I think I like #2 best. The wing blur is nice and one of the ants has his abdomen raised as if to say, "here comes trouble." Well done.

Thank you Richard. Its really nice to know which one goes over best and why. Appreciate your input

DaddyO · February 11, 2013

Earache wrote: »

Now it's a great looking series Michael - nice work!
I agree with Richard about the action in #2 and the magnification in #3 is sweet.
I know what you mean about chasing the sharpness Holy Grail - I have finally convinced myself to never (in my mind) compare my shots to Lord V over on Macro (I think he has help from a supernatural source )
- but, I think your images are pretty sharp and definitely keepers.
Camping is always an adventure and makes for great stories.

Super natural sources at Lord V's disposal.

Has to be

What an ace!
I naively ignored his expressed instruction not to purchase a 150mm. Something he put out for all. If it had been a dead sharp lens I could have lived with ignoring that solidly sound advice for exactly the reasons he gave.
You've left me some really nice feedback and other thoughts as well, thank you Eric for sharing these things. These will be keepers and users instead of something else.