Bees in the bottlebrushes

johnaalex · 04-05-2008, 4:41 PM

I thought I would experiment a bit so I switched the ISO to 800 on my D300, and put the Sigma 1.4 TC on my Sigma 150 2.8 macro to see if I could get any good shots of the bees going about their work. I'm pleased with the results, please let me know your comments.

Click on a picture for a larger version.

1)

2)

3)

4)

pmcguire · 04-05-2008, 6:09 PM

Absolutely gorgeous, the kind of pictures I would like to be able to produce!

Just bought the Sony DSLR A300 and am just getting to grips with it.

jomike · 04-05-2008, 8:45 PM

Some nice ones there John, #1 is the best IMO

Is #2 a strong crop? Just a bit of noise creeping in there.

Where these handheld?

Mike

IAN P · 04-05-2008, 9:52 PM

The level of detail is very good indeed

johnaalex · 05-05-2008, 5:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jomike

Is #2 a strong crop? Just a bit of noise creeping in there.

Where these handheld?

Mike

"Noise" - must be all those bloody bees

All the shots are cropped but I would say that it was a strong crop, but I agree there is some noise in there, but at ISO 800 I think it is reasonable. Have a look at the larger versions on my flickr site and see if you agree.

All shots were done handheld.

Paulie-W · 05-05-2008, 6:27 AM

Great shots, #1 for me

jomike · 05-05-2008, 8:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnaalex

"Noise" - must be all those bloody bees

All the shots are cropped but I would say that it was a strong crop, but I agree there is some noise in there, but at ISO 800 I think it is reasonable. Have a look at the larger versions on my flickr site and see if you agree.

All shots were done handheld.

Don't get me wrong, John, it is not objectionable noise but it is a bit more than I would expect from the D300 at ISO 800. Maybe it crept in in PP, did you have to bump up the exposure much in PP?

Kudos for handholding the 150 with 1.4TC and getting sharp shots

What working distance did this give you?

Mike

johnaalex · 05-05-2008, 5:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jomike

Don't get me wrong, John, it is not objectionable noise but it is a bit more than I would expect from the D300 at ISO 800. Maybe it crept in in PP, did you have to bump up the exposure much in PP?

Kudos for handholding the 150 with 1.4TC and getting sharp shots

What working distance did this give you?

Mike

Mike, I agree with the comments about the noise - it is more noticable than I expected and it is not due to PP other than cropping (that is all I did). The working distance was between 12 and 18 inches, but it was tricky

John