Wasp tending to its nest

[Dennis]

Hello,

I spotted this wasp building a nest in one of the shrubs in our back garden and managed to grab a few shots over the last 3 days.

Some were taken hand held with the Canon 100mm F2.8 macro lens where I set an AF point on the head and then one on the body so I could then combine the frames in CS6 to increase the depth of focus.

The wasp soon got quite used to my presence to the extent that I was able to set up a tripod, a focusing rail and grab a few rapid frames where I manually changed the focus between shots so I could stack the frames to increase the depth of field.


It's great to have a new pet!

Cheers

Dennis

[Astro_Bot]

Amazing shots.

[rcheshire (Rowland)]

They are superb Dennis. You really have the knack. Fascinating creature.

[RickS (Rick)]

Lovely, Dennis! The tight close up is fantastic.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Very very nice images Dennis.

[Geoff66 (Geoff)]

Very nice pictures!

They're very photogenic little creatures .. I've never had the courage to get that close.

The lighting is lovely.

[Osirisra (Ken)]

Very nice!

With the 7D?

[gts055 (Mark)]

Great images. You can see the egg laid in each cell. Caterpillars or spiders will be anaesthetised and put into each cell as a food source for the developing larvae. See if you can get a series of images of progress and see what this species provides for food (its a paper wasp) Mark

[RB (Andrew)]

Fantastic images Dennis !
Awesome work indeed.

[Dennis]

Thanks for the comments Astro-Bot, Rowland, Rick, Jeanette, Geoff, Ken, Mark and Andrew, I appreciate them.

My wife originally spotted this guy and when I went to have a look, the wasp took off and hovered around me before heading off, I assume that I was not considered a threat.

A few minutes after the wasp returned, I grabbed a few shots with the 7D and 100mm F2.8 macro lens and the wasp didn’t seem to mind the attention. I then set up the tripod with the 5D and MPE-65 when the nest was empty and once again, this did not appear to affect the behaviour of the insect upon its return.

It was fascinating watching the behaviour through the viewfinder and when my diffuser clumsily brushed the foliage, the wasp took off and circled me and the gear, but I didn’t feel threatened and soon the insect settled down again.

It has been quite an experience having this close up insight into the industrious behaviour of this amazing insect.

@Mark; Thanks for that very interesting information. We are currently having the house re-roofed, so the scaffolding, materials and on-site work have prevented me from accessing that corner of the garden – I hope that the wasp will still be there after the work has been completed.

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman (Mike)]

Unbelievable! Awesome.

[CJ (Chris)]

Originally Posted by Dennis

It's great to have a new pet!

[Derek Klepp]

Great snaps Dennis I particularly like the second last one.
Cheers Derek

[ourkind (Carlos)]

Stunning, the 4th image is straight out of National Geopgraphic!

[Dennis]

Thanks Mike, Chris, Derek and Carlos for your comments guys, I appreciate them. The twig on which the nest is hooked up to played havoc with my off camera flash (located above the twig) and I had to place a small white card below to kick some light back into the shadows.

My new friend El Waspo was very accommodating and didn’t seem to mind the paraphernalia around his nest!

Cheers

Dennis

[multiweb (Marc)]

The front on mugshot is unreal. Incredible details.

[BlackWidow (Mardy)]

WOW! They are fantastic shots. Thank you for sharing them. The detail is just so good.

[astroboy]

You are brave and talented Dennis , are you sending these from the intensive care ward ?

Kind regards and plasma on its way
Zane

[Dennis]

Thank you Marc, Martin and Zane for your comments, I appreciate them.

@Zane – I was initially quite nervous when approaching the wasp but provided I set up slowly and carefully, the wasp didn’t seem to take any special notice of me or the camera. Maybe I didn’t match the threat profile built into their early warning and defence systems?

Cheers

Dennis