A few bees

Absolutely enjoying this new photo hobby and new toy 70-300mm IS.

Got a few bees today, techniques may not had been correct but got a few I liked.

All tips on improvement welcome. Try some colours and levels in PP, don't know if I have overcooked anything. Also some unsharpen mask.

[Tobers]

Looking good!

For pesky things like bees that move a lot, you need a higher shutter speed. The flying pics are a bit blurry - you'd expect the wings to blur but the body to be sharp. You've obviously got the aperture nice & open (judging by the nicely blurred background), so the only other thing to do is increase the ISO and see how that goes.

Possibly use a tripod as well. The last one with the bee flying towards the camera is the most interesting one for me, but the blurred stalk & flower indicate a bit of camera shake as I guess they should be still. A tripod will make them still assuming the wind isn't blowing them, but you also need to freeze the bee so a faster shutter speed again.

Show us more when you get them

Tobers

[vulkan75]

Last one for me mate..well caught.What big sacks he has

Many many thanks for the tip. I was going to raise the question what ISO I should set on a Canon 350d so maybe noise is not too bad. These were ISO 400 set on shutter priority. I was tempted to put it up up 800 or even 1600. I shall try again soon as these bees work hard outside my office.

As with tripod, I will try but not sure if I can catch the bee then. It is another challenge.....

[Tobers]

The beauty of digital is you can just try it and see. No harm whacking the ISO up to 1600 and working your way down, then seeing what the differences are in the pics you take. It's well worth doing to see what the effect has on the shutter speed and image quality.

Go on, do it now. Just take a few pics of your monitor at different ISOs, keep the aperture the same (e.g. wide open) and note the shutter speeds changing.

You know it makes sense...

Did do that different ISO excercise indoor and found the ISO 1600 can pick up a little noise.

The thing is with these bees photos, some are heavily cropped. (neither want to get too close nor the bees had intention to be a perfect non moving models). Was not sure the result if I enlarge the picture. Will try higher ISO in the next few days. (hehe, excuse to get out of the office again)

[Tobers]

Good man - that's the spirit!

[CyBeRkId2002]

just to mirror what others have said great first attempt and I would try a higher ISO. Personally a crisper image with a little bit of noise is preferred over a slightly blurry image.

Also something I have noticed on my camera is that ISO noise is highly dependent on shooting environment and on a brighter day, using it to help freeze motion, the noise shouldnt be too much of an issue.

Would be interested to see how you get on with the tips above and well done on the shots so far, you've definately got closer to a bee than im ever going to be willing to.

[mambojambo]

can i just add

try to find flowers with 1 large head with multiple stamen, i find thistles good
try flash and a small aperture for increased DOF
and plan on waiting and waiting and waiting and wasting plenty of virtual film

[CyBeRkId2002]

great shot...without wanting to spoil this thread was that taken on a proper macro lens, and if so which one... have been considering buying one for a while and after looking at the results on here/flickr/magazines i think im about ready to get one but dont know which.

Originally Posted by mambojambo

1 large head with multiple stamen

That must had been why it was not easy at all. The bees were buzzing all over. Unforunately only got these small flowers on a hedge like growth outside in the parking lot and these bees kept on buzzing between these little flower heads and not wanting to stay for long time.

Did not get my tripod out as it would be just taking pictures of flowers instead of bees. Also the AF was getting caught focusing between branches in the hedge like growth. The cat and mouse game then became much more difficult. Will have a go again anyway and have to go in a proper park on a big flower head one day...

Did enjoy the chasing though, it was part of the fun trying to catch these in flight, made me feel young again

[mambojambo]

Originally Posted by CyBeRkId2002

great shot...without wanting to spoil this thread was that taken on a proper macro lens, and if so which one... have been considering buying one for a while and after looking at the results on here/flickr/magazines i think im about ready to get one but dont know which.

no it was taken with a Nikon 4300 p&s a great little macro camera

[bibamus]

I love bees, that last shot was great, you can almost see it thinking what to do next!
Now, for a bit of added excitement, try wasps! They are great on laurel bushes, and for an extra adrenalin rush, poke the wasp with a stick first!

Allan

Today's bees. Given it a try anyway. Think will be off bees for a few days now. Once again all inputs welcome.

Last one. Can someone tell me how good is the 70-300mm IS on macro compare to say the Tamron (or others). Still saving for the EF-S 17-55mm IS as my next lens.

This one shot originally in RAW, unlike the earlier lot posted on this thread (shot in jpeg).

Once again all input welcome.