Bee on Creosote Flower

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
1/500sec @ f/13 ISO 250
Canon 430EX with Lumiquest Softbox
Some crop and sharpening in CS4 and NR in Noiseware Pro

[Julie Kenward]

Ian, nice close up! You might try toning down that top flower petal so it's closer to the others in tone. I'd also clone out the partial leaf in the LLC. It looks like parts of the bee are sharper than other parts - moving more to the left and putting the entire bee even with the lens would help that. (I know...that's not always possible! Just position yourself as best you can.) I'd give the eye a little selective sharpening to bring it closer to the sharpness of the rest of him.

[Allen Sparks]

I agree with Julie's comments above. Toning down of the upper petal would really help this shot. Very nice up close macro overall.

[Ian Cassell]

Thank you for your tips!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ian,
I know these guys are tough as they almost never sit still! I agree with the above recommendations but looking at your specs.....try sacrificing some SS in this case.....I'm pretty sure the 7D can handle ISO 400 well.....so that alone will get you to f16.....going from 1/500 to 1/250....gets you to f22. The flash effectively will freeze the movement and give you additional DOF on these small critters. Just some other things to try out in the field.