Hungry Bee

[Don Jacobs]

I shot this bee gorging on pollen this past weekend. I was quite happy to have been able to get so close. I used the 1DIV, 100L, ISO 320, f/11.0, SS 1/300 HH. I used flash in ETTL as well. C&C greatly appreciated.

[Norm Dulak]

Hi Don.

That bee certainly is coated with pollen, and that makes for an interesting image. The bee is sharp and the colors are good. Greater DOF would have made the closer parts of the flower sharper. If it were mine, I would not crop the bee so tightly, allowing more space at least above and to the right. I also would tone down the bright spots in the background.

But it's an interesting image. Thanks for sharing it.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Don. All that pollen really makes this image! The tattered wingtips indicate that this individual has "been around the block" a few times - and adds interest to the image IMO. Also, good exposure and good sharpness within your DOF. Like Norm, I find the bright spots in the background to be distracting - I would suggest toning them down. One option would be to paint over them with a low-opacity (say about 10%) green brush until they look the way you would like. There are some flash-generated specular highlights on the bee - are you using a diffuser on your flash? If not, this could be the next step in your development as a macro photographer. :S3: A couple options include: Westcott Micro Apollo diffuser -very lightweight and portable. Another sturdier and slightly larger (and more expensive) diffuser is the Lastolite Ezybox Speed-lite. Keep working at this and keep the images coming!