MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

Hello all,

Here is the head of a Wasp but there; the subject is "big" and suddenly I think it's more macro photography because with the bino magnifying glass or the microscope, it lacks too much depth of field and suddenly the stacking bug with too many artifacts I think .
Done on a microscope with the 4x objective and illuminated with a double led "JJC Macro Arm Light": I will see to acquire a more advanced software than Photoshop version CS6 or CombineZP or do a little editing like this one which I would like:
https://www.eos-numerique.com/forums/f1 ... pe-191315/

If you have any ideas or tips for better stacking, I'll take it

Friendships,
Frank

I use the Hugin toolset for my stacking and imaging. I can't say if it's better or worse that anything else as it's all I've used.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say your wasp is in the genus Dolichovespula as the face looks wider than I would expect for Vespula.

the old minolta bellows are great for macro

along with stackshot

face only a mother can love.

EYE C U wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 31, 2022 5:57 pm

face only a mother can love.Screen Shot 2022-03-31 at 12.57.22 PM.png

It is a good thing we need microscopes to see them...

Great image

Good morning all,
Thanks all for your feedback.
Very nice photo CU EYE.
Friendships,
Franck

imkap wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 31, 2022 7:34 pm

EYE C U wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 31, 2022 5:57 pm

face only a mother can love.Screen Shot 2022-03-31 at 12.57.22 PM.png

It is a good thing we need microscopes to see them...

Great image

We had a yellow jacket nest right near our stepped rear entrance a couple of summers ago, that was left untouched until moved the following spring. For most of the summer things went o.k. but one day I was just coming up the stairs and encountered one just leaving the nest under full acceleration, which is pretty fast. I briefly got a non microscopic closeup of it's face because it flew smack dab into my right eye. They sting very quickly. One of those cringing memories.

grest images, both.

because it flew smack dab into my right eye

I think it's an experience that is not pleasant at all!

Dear Frank,

the head of your wasp is welldone, but the background a little bit inhomogeneous, try to reach a homogeneous, unsharp background, I myself use black or blue carton for it.

Best regards from Austria,
Manfred

The JJC Macro arm light looks like a lot of fun
What you might find, though, is that using small-diameter light source tends to cause shiny reflective surfaces (even if they look black-coloured) to light up too brightly.
It is surprising how many things on an insect (and specs of dust) light up too brightly, these can also cause trouble if you try to do a focus-stack.

One way to try to stop this is to put some kind of light diffuser between the light and the the insect.
A lot of people have used ping-pong balls cut in half or quarter and then shone their light onto these. However these can be quite fiddly things to position around an insect, under the rotating nosepeice of a microscope
As an alternative ; some magazines come in a slightly ' milky ' plastic wrapping : One can hang this material around the stage of the microscope and shine some desk lights on it .. this might not be as perfect as a ping pong ball, but it is a bit easier to set up, I think.
Some things, like beetles, need diffused light to reveal the textures on them and I think that a diffuser might help if you wanted to look at the facets of your wasp's eye, with a 10x.
But using a diffuser does give a different 'look' to the photographs, which you might not like

...a single layer of thin white bin-liner material works quite well as a diffuser, too
I have just tried it.
It doesnt let quite as much light through as the magazine wrapper material, but it isnt bad.
-Just hang it around the stage area and shine a light onto it.

fdupre wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 31, 2022 3:04 pm

Hello all,

Here is the head of a Wasp but there; the subject is "big" and suddenly I think it's more macro photography because with the bino magnifying glass or the microscope, it lacks too much depth of field and suddenly the stacking bug with too many artifacts I think .
Done on a microscope with the 4x objective and illuminated with a double led "JJC Macro Arm Light":

How many images in your stack? Having played with the 4x with a tick and a Cuckoo wasp, I can begin to appreciate the effort.

dtsh wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 5:52 am

How many images in your stack? Having played with the 4x with a tick and a Cuckoo wasp, I can begin to appreciate the effort.

Hello dtsha,
About 15 images because of the antennas which required depth of field.

Hello chas,
Thanks for the advice

Sincerely,
Frank

Hi there,

I share another photo of a wasp head that came into my office and totally "attacked" me

Taken under the microscope with the 4x objective: Here is the whole wasp: Head seen from the side: Sincerely,
FRanck

Nice

It seems to me that it lacks a mandible ???

came into my office and totally "attacked" me

Did you fight back ?

I DON'T WHAT FOLLOWED MY WIFE IN THE HOUSE 2 DAYS AGO BUT IT WAS ABOUT 2.5 INCHES LONG.. WAS THINKING WASP BUT THIS THING WAS HUGE.. WIFE JUST WANTED IT DEAD SO IT GOT SQUISHED. DID THINK TO GET A PIC FIRST. A BEE BITE ALMOST KILLER HER YEARS AGO SO THEY DON'T GET TO HANG AROUND HERE LONG.

Frank... I couldnt find a Parisian ID chart:
https://www.bigwaspsurvey.org/the-wasps/

Eye C U -- did you keep it's head ? (on a plate

Hello everyone and thank you for watching and for your feedback.

Chas wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 30, 2022 9:27 am

Avez-vous riposté ?

No, not really, but what's crazy is that I took out a jar and she put herself in it! which explains why I was able to take her picture with the microscope.
FRanck

Hello friends,

Here are the legs and wings of this wasp.
One of the larger legs at 4x: The wings of the wasp (I found 2; one large and one small on each side. This must allow it to hover just like the bee).
Large 4x (5 sockets): Small 4x (3 sockets - a piece is missing in the middle): Large 10x: Small 10x: . . .

. . .
and finally the small wing 40x: friendly,
Franck

EYE C U wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:49 pm

I DON'T WHAT FOLLOWED MY WIFE IN THE HOUSE 2 DAYS AGO BUT IT WAS ABOUT 2.5 INCHES LONG.. WAS THINKING WASP BUT THIS THING WAS HUGE.. WIFE JUST WANTED IT DEAD SO IT GOT SQUISHED. DID THINK TO GET A PIC FIRST. A BEE BITE ALMOST KILLER HER YEARS AGO SO THEY DON'T GET TO HANG AROUND HERE LONG.

One of these? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... itain.html

LouiseScot wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 02, 2022 5:28 pm

EYE C U wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 30, 2022 1:49 pm

I DON'T WHAT FOLLOWED MY WIFE IN THE HOUSE 2 DAYS AGO BUT IT WAS ABOUT 2.5 INCHES LONG.. WAS THINKING WASP BUT THIS THING WAS HUGE.. WIFE JUST WANTED IT DEAD SO IT GOT SQUISHED. DID THINK TO GET A PIC FIRST. A BEE BITE ALMOST KILLER HER YEARS AGO SO THEY DON'T GET TO HANG AROUND HERE LONG.

One of these? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... itain.html

could bee... with the wife freaking out and both dogs barking i just wanted it dead..had i had more time i would have grabbed an empty pill bottle.