Flight

I have been revisiting the potter wasp daily, collecting more images for my collection. The shot that I am looking for is the head on in flight. This is an extremely difficult shot to nail, mainly because of the low light and the dark colors of the wasp.

In order to get the speed, I have switched to shutter priority with the fastest speed that I can use with flash, which is 250th. With three clicks of over exposure, this dropped the aperture to F3.3 which means a small depth of field. Given that the giant wasp will be flying towards me means that the focus is going to be hit and miss.

The only way to get the shot is to play the numbers game and keep taking shots every day until I get it. BUT, the only way to get the wasp into the air and facing me is to literally rattle its cage, by tapping on the branch. This is a high risk procedure, but fortunately the wasp hasn't figured out that it is me holding the stick that bangs on its branch. I fear that if I don't nail the shot soon, I will get my comeuppance - the things we do for a blip!

This in-flight side view shot is a by product of today's session. I am obviously very happy with it, as it beat 19 other bug images to the blip screen.

Dave