Solitary Bee

[shane shacaluga]

I was looking under bits of bark from a Eucaliptus tree and in the cold weather this solitary bee dropped out. The cold had made it very lethargic so gave me ample time to take a few shots

D800e
50mm f1.8 with 20mm ext tube
f16
i/160
ISO 100
Sb200 flash with homemade diffusor

Original image is 3349 x 2294 pixels. I cleaned up a few bits of debris in front of the bee and burnt a few brighter areas on BG

Selectively sharpened the subject and removed a few highlights from the flash

Thanks for your comments

[Diane Miller]

A very different view of a bee with wonderful detail where it needs to be and softness behind to make the detail stand out. I love it!

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like this image very much indeed, you have managed to get really close and yet have plenty of DOF, I love the detail and colours. Some may find the highlights in the eyes distracting, this can easily be fixed but if it were mine I would leave them. (you could use it in a competition then!)

[MiroslavMaric]

Hi Shane,
I like the composition. DOF, BG and deatils are great too. It seems the light is little bit harsh. TFS.
Cheers,
Miro