Native Bee in flight

[Paul Burdett]

After a week of trying to get one of these native Bees in flight I got one I'm happy with (but can always do better). They are around 3-4mm in length and have been hovering around our radish flowers. I found that pre-focusing on the flower and waiting for them to hover is maybe the best way to get them, but with this one I tried to follow it.

Canon 6D, 100mm macro, 1/2000th sec, f8, iso 1250. No flash used

[Jonathan Ashton]

Pretty close Paul, must be difficult with such a small target. The bee is not quite pin sharp. Did you notice the crab spider on the left hand flower???
There is some noise in the background, not bad but perhaps could be reduced a little.

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Jonathan. Yes..they're not too difficult when they're on the flower, but hovering and moving around is definitely a challenge. I must admit I didn't notice the spider whilst shooting the Bee...until I edited the photo. Cheers.

[John Mack]

Nice to see the bee with some pollen on those legs. I could see it cropped more from the right.

[Paul Burdett]

Thanks John. Didn't want to crop more as I think the quality would suffer, although the canon 6D, being full frame, allows big crops. I might revisit the raw file and see. Cheers.