I have been photographing insects for a while now and it is time to see if I can add some more to these photographs. This paper wasp is about 25 feet away and position in a way that worked out well, I guess the big question is cropping. This one is cropped quite a bit already but looking for input here
I used a 7D2 and a 100-400 ii with a 1.4x extender on a tripod sitting on a table. It is common I will just sit and wait for the subject to get where I want him.
Very nice, Dean. I love the way he is staring you down. That is patience, and it sure paid off for you. I have a tendency to miss shots because I give up for the subject to go where I want them, and I try to go to them. I will have to remember to try to be more patient, because in doing so, you get to make sure the background is how you want it, as is the case here, and framed nicely as you did in this shot. Not nits for me. Wonderful details where they need to be. 
Thanks Shirley, I use a Gimbal so that helps when I am just standing around and waiting.
Dean, your composition looks great here, with the wasp at the crossing of the two stems and “staring” at the camera. The details in the grayer stem are terrific. Nice timing on the shot. The wasp’s eyes look to be just a hair soft probably due to the depth-of-field challenge in shooting close-ups with a very long lens. While I’m not good at wasp ID, this looks like ones that I’ve had come to within a few feet of me as I sit quietly in my backyard milkweed patch, so you can safely get a lot closer with your setup, although that exacerbates the dof challenges.
Thanks Mark. I was told this is a paper wasp. When I was younger I had a fear of bees and wasp but when I started getting really close to them with my macro that fear went away. I found that bees and wasps don’t seem to care how close I get, this tree was high up and not that close. As you pointed out DOF is hard with this setup. I have a 180 macro which is what I prefer to use on these small subjects. I am glad to hear the composition is good so it is a welcome comment, thanks
I love the perspective here with the wasp looking at us. Nice sharp details.
Dean: I think this is a great comp with the wasp looking into the frame and the twigs acting as framing elements. I really didn’t notice the softness that Mark mentioned but I took the liberty of doing a simple Smart Sharpen addition and it did bring out the detail a bit more. Your plane of focus looks good with the face and antennae sharp. This proves that good things do indeed come to those who wait. 
>=))>
Great image of this little bugger (my non-insect vocabulary…) Considering the size in the frame, I think it works quite nicely to have the leaves and little branches to give us context of the capture. He sure looks like he was caught off guard for the photo op. 
My only suggestion, perhaps dealing with the blue patch along the top edge. I suppose you could just crop down or deal with the color or something. I like the blue in the lower right, although I think you could selectively darken that a bit just so it’s not competing for the eye as much. but that’s pretty minor. All the colors and processing in general looks great.
Lon
Thanks Lon, good suggestion on the blue
