To bee or not to bee

[Kirk Robinson]

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3712/9125675665_0e0882ee02_b.jpg

So this photo was the first time I attempted something resembling macro photography... I was out in my yard with my bird lens, and the opportunity presented its self, so I went for it! :)
I still don't own any insect identification books, so I don't actually know what it is - I assume some sort of bee (?) - so any ID help is appreciated!

Nikon D7000+300mm f/2.8+2xTC
f/8, 1/400, ISO 200
Image was cropped (I don't have an extension tube or anything, so I had to stay about 10 feet back to focus - and therefore needed to crop it)
Saturation increased in LR (original was a bit washed).

Any critiques/advise much appreciated!

-Kirk

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the composition and the position of the bee. The greens look a little to saturated to me. the bee appears to be pretty well focused but perhaps the eye region is a little soft. I am no expert but it looks similar to a miner bee or perhaps some kind of leaf cutter bee, perhaps Steve will know for sure.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Kirk and welcome to the Macro forum! This is an attractive bee that you found! I might suggest cropping a little off the left and ideally, I would wish that there were fewer specular highlights on the bee. I checked with my daughter who is the real "bug-person" around here - she thinks that this is likely a male (due to the long antennas) Mason bee in the genus Osmia (this probably narrows it down to a few hundred species :S3:). If you are looking for an insect field guide, the best one I've found is "Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America" by Eric R. Eaton and Kenn Kaufman, 2007, Houghton Mifflin Company.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Kirk, that is a cute bee! I agree that you overdid the saturation a bit. A good alternative is to increase the vibrance, which selectively increases saturation except in those colors that are already quite saturated. I'm not sure this is an option in LR however. Alternatively, you could have increased the contrast a bit, which usually works for images that look a little washed out. The IQ suffers a bit from the crop.
A suggestion for composition: a lower angle works quite well with many insects and can help to get a bit cleaner BG.
Looking forward to seeing more of your macro images!

[Kirk Robinson]

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2862/9147868584_e31f284fcf_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/68665581@N04/9147868584/)

Thank you everyone for you feedback!
Jonathan and Jerry, in hindsight I agree I did get a bit carried away with the saturation.
Jerry, I agree IQ does suffer from the crop, but I was focusing as close as the lens would let me, and there is nothing I can do at this point :\ Thanks for the tip on the low angle.
Steve, thanks for the ID help! And for the field guide recommendation, I will look into it!
This second image is actually a different photo than the first - I switched because this one had a bit less of the reflective highlights on the wing, but otherwise was basically the same. I then tried toning down the blown out areas using the paint brush tool, and brought the exposure and saturation down. I feel like there must be a better way, though... (?) I also used the color noise reduction slider, which helped some too. I left the saturation alone and adjusted the vibrance, contrast, and exposure instead... Thanks for the tip Jerry! I also cropped a bit more off the left, as Steve suggested, which I think helped.
Thanks again,
Kirk

[Jerry van Dijk]

This looks way better Kirk! Color noise was indeed a problem in the first image, but has been removed very well in this one. You may want to try some extra selective sharpening on the bee. Also, a clarity adjustment (again, not sure if this is available in LR) may help to have the bee look a bit sharper, but you have to take care not to blow any colors or fill in the blacks (you may need to back down a bit with the contrast settings).