Wasp Wannabe
This fly is trying pretty hard to look like a wasp.
This is the last in my series of wasps/flies on thistles where I have been exploring tone-mapping vs. lightroom processing. I think that for this fly, the tone mapping has the edge – the background has not suffered too much and in some ways is more interesting, and the improvement in the fly and especially the wings seems worth the effort.
Check out the gallery below to compare the two kinds of processing.
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To open the gallery view below click on any thumbnail, use the arrows to navigate and escape to return to this page.
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- Tone map processing
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- Lightroom processing
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- Tone map processing
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- Lightroom processing
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Canon 5Dii, Canon 100mm/f2.8 macro, ISO400, f3.2, top 1/800th, bottom 1/640th
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burnt embers 
These are all nice shots. Can’t believe how crisp you’ve gotten the wings. Excellent work!
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Hi Doug! Thanks for the comment. That is a combination of lighting and then the tone mapping just brings out a bit more. The lens helps a lot too.
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I love the tone-mapped images, they’re great! Now I guess I will have to learn something about tone-mapping!
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Hi Laurie – it is a fairly absorbing activity, learning new software. But in this instance it has been very rewarding.
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Thanks – I’ll check it out.
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I loved seeing the side by side results for the processing – I never process in LIghtroom and the advantage of tone processing is evident, Great post!
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Thanks Lynn 🙂 I tend to prefer the tone mapping for black and white, but these flies have shown me a way forward on the colour side too. I am groping along here, not seeking out the experience of other’s very much, just sliding the bars and seeing what happens. Sometimes good things come of it.
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The tone mapped images certainly have the edge – more vibrant to my eye and a touch sharper perhaps as well, or is that a side-effect of a little extra contrast.
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“Have the edge” is a perfect expression when I think about it. Not being a master with this technique I can’t just tell you which value buttons I slid to get this effect, but I think it arises mostly from the luminosity settings and decreased mid-tones. I would have to process the images again to see which is influencing that part the most.
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Really wonderful work here, Ehpem, I love your work in this realm! I am totally with oneowner on this one with his thoughts on the rich details in the wings. I personally prefer the tone mapped versions, but by now I am sure this comes as no surprise!
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Well, so far it is all of us preferring the tone mapped, for the qualities it brings out in the fly. Nice to have a bit of unanimity 🙂
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So cool. I agree, the tone mapping helps enhance the fly. The wings look amazing. I really like the difference between the last pair. Great images.
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Thank you Ryan. It is interesting how it brings up the detail in reflections. I have been trying to think of other applications for this that might work well – ripples on water maybe.
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The tone mapped photos have a edge over the LR processed in this group. The detail, especially in the wings, is outstanding. Beautiful macros though, either way.
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Thanks Ken. These two shots were the ones where the insects allowed me to get the closest, or rather, flew in so close I had to lean back for the focus. So there is a lot less cropping than on the other ones in this series – which might help the backgrounds too.
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