Description: I went out after work and headed down to the Duck Pond. A fairly large insect was exhibiting some territorial behavior so I dashed back to the house to get my camera. I returned to the site and a very interesting bee-like insect was checking me out from the top of a wild carrot. So I began shooting and adjusted the settings to maximize depth of field. The background is OOF water meal on the surface of the pond. This is actually a type of wasp (Family Crabronidae) and was able to classify it as Tachytes species.
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Pertinent technical details or techniques:
D500 200mm F4 micro (1/200 sec at f16, ISO 320, natural light, hand held). Slight crop for comp, DeNoise, High Pass filter sharpening on layer set to soft light, Levels, shadows & highlights, Briughtness & Contrast.
Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)
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Jim, youâve caught the key parts of the cuckoo bee and the flowers extremely well - and I love the BG, including the amount you left in for composition. If itâs not too much to ask, could you clarify for me what you did for âHigh Pass filter sharpening on layer set to soft lightâ? Was this in PS and how did it enhance the shot?
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Hi Mike,
Go to [https://digital-photography-school.com/photoshop-tip-using-high-pass-filter-sharpen-images/] and https://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/sharpen-high-pass/#:~:text=How%20to%20sharpen%20images%20in%20Photoshop%20with%20High,the%20filter%27s%20blend%20mode.%20âŚ%20More%20itemsâŚ%20 for detailed explanations and instructions. The High Pass filter is found in the Other submenu of the Filter in Photoshop. The filter finds edges which is where sharpening needs to be applied. Used with a new layer and layer blending options like soft or hard light or overlay can add subtle to strong enhancement of micro-contrast for sharpening. Normally I use Nik for sharpening, but High Pass sharpening works well in a pinch when Nik fails to work.
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Many thanks, Jim! Will try these out pronto.
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Wonderful creature so well captured!! Detail and colors are fantastic!
This is unbelievably nit-picky, and I shouldnât even mention it, but Iâm wondering about taking some off the top to bring the âhorizonâ closer to 1/3 down, or more like 1/2.5âŚ
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Really great details on the bee, Jim! And nice background too.
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Really nice Jim. I especially like the hand held part with excellent focus.
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With the high pass filter sharpening, hereâs the easy way to choose the radius: Just after making the smart object, change the mode to Overlay. It will look hideous but as soon as you add the HP filter and start moving the slider youâll see the actual effect instead of trying to guesstimate the slider position. Youâll have to accept the best position and say OK before you can change the blend mode, but then you can easily go back to the smart object and change the slider â itâs not destructive because of the way a smart object works.
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Such wonderful details captured in this wasp, Jim. Really nice image. He actually looks like he is laying on the flowers. That smooth BG really is nice too. Great shot.
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Fantastic details, Jim, as the others have said. Great capture one I aspire to achieve someday. Nicely done.
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Jim, the details both in the wasp and in the front flowers looks great. Pretty amazing that it was âchecking you outâ, but the more we humans look, the more details about animal behavior weâre finding out, which is good.
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Very cool and I now understand the importance of facial sharpness.
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