How do you do macro photography on wasps?

Hi to one and all at Nature Photography!!

Thanks for all the answers with regards to using the 300/4IS as a

"macro lens". I have decided to go with the 500D option! Anyway

here's a new situation i'm trying to overcome. Wasps are very

interesting subject(usually quite colorful)! But the darn thing just

will not stop crawling when it lands(and it crawls quite fast). This

means that using a tripod is out. Unlike dragonflies(usually prefers

one resting twig), i can not predict its movement to take a

calculated movement point of focus as it's is quite directionless. AI

Servo focusing is out because af sucks in macro and this makes

handholding quite difficult!!(having to mf on a fast crawling wasp)

any advise out there?!?!?!?

Warmest regards

David

Hi David,

 

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I like your interest. You jump from one subject to another like a jack

rabbit;) But seriously, if I were to shoot a wasp, I would probably

use a 200mm marco lens to keep the distance(don't want a sting for no

reason). I would not rule out a tripod as I may want to prefocus on

a particular area and wait for the subject to be in focus.

Handholding is possible but I would prefer using a 105mm macro

instead. However, if you want to shoot a wasp in flight, I would

advise you to bring plenty of films and pray for good luck. Your best

bet is still to wait for it to land at an anticipated area(flower,

hive, etc)and then shoot.

Use flash. Maybe a couple of small strobes on a bracket. Set the

focus distance and focus by moving the camera back and forth. This

is pretty standard for subjects like butterflies or any small critter

that won't stay still for long.

Ok, I may take some flack for this one, but how about using some

sticky fly paper with some sweet bait on it? Failing that, small

flashes on a bracket with arms left and right would be the best bet.

 

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regards,

 

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Chris

How about NOT using sticky paper.....how about learning the habits of

insects first. If the wasp gets her feet stuck, she will understandly

struggle around trying to get free. Her unnatural posture will ruin

your "natural" shot.

 

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Insects are affected by low pressure weather, tend to move around more

quickly. During these times, put down the camera and pick up the

fishing pole... On hot, hazy afternoons, they tend to be more

docile. Move slowly, don't provoke. If you have enough confidence,

you can even let them crawl on you. Fear and panic puts out odors in

your skin that they can smell. I just saw a nature show demonstrating

how the carbon dioxide in your breath sets off killer bees, perhaps

try not to breathe directly on the wasp.

 

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Try putting a tiny bead of molasses or corn syrup or other sweet

sticky substance in an inconspicuous place, or right in the middle of

a flower, you may be able to catch them eating. Find a nest, set up

your setting nearby (but not too close to make the hive feel

threatened). When they find a source of food, they keep coming back.

 

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The main thing is to have PATIENCE. Find some flowers or dead wood

that they will be eating from or stripping wood from to make paper for

their nests. Don't stick the camera right in their face right away,

move in after a few minutes; let them get used to you. Sometimes the

lens of the camera looks like the huge eye of a predator and they take

off.

Have you ever had an allergic reaction to wasp or bee stings? If you

can safely catch a few without maiming them, put the wasps in a closed

jar in the fridge until they're sluggish--15-20 minutes ,or so,should

do. Take 'em outside for their "shoot," and they'll fly off when they

come to.

For shots on the ground or other substrate, Rose-Marie's bait idea sounds like the best bet to me. Some wasps are meat eaters, so put out some sweets and some bits of meat. It may take a while (possibly days) for them to find your bait, so patience is always needed. When you see them attracted to the bait, set up your image area near the bait (a place where they land or take-off, perhaps) and preset your camera on that area. Move slowly and take your time; watch a few, checking your framing and focus, then start your photography.

 

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If you want flight shots reliably, you'll have to set up some kind of controlled flight path to a bait that brings the insects into the image frame and focus. A tube or box of some sort could restrict their flight path to where you want it. Install the restrictor after they have found the bait to save time waiting for them to arrive. Crossed infrared or other shutter tripping devices would help make your images more accurate or maybe even possible.

 

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Good luck

 

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Frank

This is such an interesting project that I'm going to throw out a few ideas which may or may not work. First, I would find the time of day when they slow down some. I would say early morning, but someone else who seems to know the wasps better, suggests afternoon. Watch and find out for youself. I would use the old standby, peanut butter, mixed with hamburger. Keep us infomed. Keep lots of notes. Even if you don't get the pictures you want this time, you are bound to learn a lot.

David,

 

Study your subject a little bit. I don't know if you live in the United States but I'm guessing that you might not. If you are in the US there are many good field guides to help you do this - if not I don't know what field guides might be out there for your part of the world, but I would look into to it. Here's the reason - there two basic groups that you may catagorize wasps into: solitary and social. A good example of social wasps are hornets(yellow jackets). Much like honey bees they are very social insects in that they form colonies(hives).

 

Due to their social nature they are usually very aggressive and easily provoked. The other catagory of solitary wasps are represented by spiderwasps, mud-daubbing wasps, and burrowing wasps. As the name implies, these are less social in their behavior and also less aggressive. In most cases you will really have to antagonize these wasps to provoke them - they are much more approachable and you may take your mind off of being stung allowing you to concentrate on capturing those movements.

 

Good luck.....

 

Kevin

Very, very carefully!

You might try capturing a number of wasps and let them sit in the

refrigerator for a few minutes to slow down their metabolisim. This

will give you time to select a setting and get your equipment set up.

then you can place the wasp in the selected natural setting and begin

photographing them. They will warm up quickly so you will only be

able to get a few shots off before they warm up and come looking for

trouble. Anyway BE CAREFUL

Hi!! - Thanks for all the advice for wasp photography. i will be

'shooting wasp the coming week and will let you all know if i was

successful or not. - wish me luck!

Ps: Christian -The sticky fly paper is out, but it is an idea though!

Kevin - Borrowed a book on insects that has a section on bees and

wasp. It is an American publication about insects in the US,hopefully

the info on wasp in the US is somewhat the same here in Singapore.

First, dump the refrigerator idea. It doesn't help the wasps & the

experts can tell cooled animals way easier than most think.

Learn the behavior and use that as a guide as to the times to shoot.

If you really have problems, set up a complete environment for them

around your shooting preferences, one that completely mimics where

they normally live. Then shoot that way.

A friend did a major documentary on leaf cutter bees and found afer

renting a controlled greenhouse facility that wild bees didn't like

his camera & didn't feed normally when it, he or any assistants were

in the area. So he did what he could, he got larvae and raised a

completely new colony in the Greenhouse and photographed them during

the entire life cycle, including bringing in freshly cut food for

them as well as raising successive crops so they would have good food

while keeping some groups further along than others so he would have

a number of stages of the life cycle going at the same time. This way

he could shoot behavior & process the film & if the images weren't

first rate he had another group coming along shortly to fine tune the

images.

 

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It is work, but accurate behavioral shots do take time anyway. With

some you can do it all in the field and with others you have to make

a mini-habitat out of your basement.

I suggest you check out Steve Hoffman's web site for some of the best

damn wasp photos I've ever seen. He also list his e-mail address there

and does answer his mail. His address is:

http://www.niftywebs.com/photoweb/

Good Luck, Bob

Hi to one and all - Thanks for all the advice, and new ones too!!

Well here is what happen after four days on the project. Day one -

tried the baiting idea with sweet stuff. I photographed every other,

sweet tooth insect....but no wasp! Day two - managed to bait a wasp

right infront of my lens with just one problem...It was a HUGE WASP(i

think it is...)about two inches in length, all black with an orange

band on its back. I decided to myself that i was not going to put my

face, 12 - 14 inches from it. Day three - tried the fridge idea.

caught two wasp by putting sweet stuff in jars. All was going fine

till my wife open the fridge door and......(leave the rest to your

imagination). Day four found a small colony of paper wasps(I think

it is by matched the pic on a book i borrowed)on hanging on a small

plant at the back of my house. Hope the pics turned out alright!

regards

david

Hi David,

I am a researcher specialized in tropical ecology and have been

photographing wasps and spiders over the last 6 years in Brazil,

Mexico, Uganda, Indonesia, Zaire and Europe. I have even published a

few shots in european magazines, thus the quality of my shots can`t be

too bad.

From my experiences, also from travelling and working with my

colleague and friend, who is an entomologist in a german museum, I can

only warmly recommend the suggestions Kevin Hall already made. I just

wanted to add, putting animals in some extremely adverse environment

(fridges) is surely not very professional and doesn4t give you the

satisfaction of a pleasing natural result, the same applies to my mind

to using baits.

I had never problems with wasps, even with the state-building species

when moving slowly and approaching very carefully. I even photographed

hornets in France from a distance of 25 cm from their hive in an old

tree, being used by some as a landing platform when they returned with

prey. Never got stung, though.

My set-up consist of three different lenses. I mostly use a 100mm

macro, two flashes, one from above (artif. sun) one from the front

(light up shadows). It is adviseable to choose two stronger flashes

(GN of 30 in metres), first to have faster recovery time, second

because very short lightning like 1/10000 sec. doesn't exist in nature

and therefore doesn4t bother the wasps. This set-up is quite good for

the calmer solitary wasps.

For the faster hive-building species, use a 200 (180) mm macro with

one flash (strong) from above. I obtained quite pleasing results with

fill-flash also. position your tripod close to the hive, walk slowly,

might take up to 20 min. to approach, once your there, you have plenty

of shooting opportunities and time. Or use a 100-300 zoom (or the

like) with a close-up lens (like Nikon 5T or Canon 500D)with

flash also but without a tripod.

The latter is more for action shots, like shooting parasitic species

with prey.

After you have spotted a wasp, take time to watch her a bit, than

after you got her scheme of moving, approach with preset magnification

and the set-up ready. move your body slowly till you got her in focus,

than release the shutter. I seldom fail with this method. I have an

archive now of about 2500 wasp images and never got stung, actually

wasp are quite friendly people, to my view.

yours

michael

If you want to photograph "Yellow Jackets" and Bold Face Hornets both

are atracted to sugar. Either in solid form or as a solution. You can

add vegetable dye to sugar water to improve the photo quality of the

background. Float a small piece of wood or some such in a container

as a landing platform.

 

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In the fall when food is scarce I have used a ring flash attached to

a 55mm lens on a bellows without bothering them -- or them ME!

 

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It will take a few days before they discover your gift.. then their

numbers increase daily.

 

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Sugar also attracts flies. Which you can "swat" and feed to the

yellow jackets. Pick a good spot and "crazy glue" the flies down so

they cannot quickly picked up and carried off by the "yellow jackets."

They remove the flies wings and head before carying them off.