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View Full Version : Bumble bee on sunflower



Ravi Hirekatur
12-21-2011, 02:48 PM
Taken at ninesprings E-way, Madison WI this fall. I wish the picture had a little more depth so I could get the entire bee in focus. But decreasing the aperture would have brought a lot of undesirable elements into near focus also.
Canon 7D + 100mm/f2.8 macro on tripod without flash
F8, 1/60, ISO 400
25% cropped out
CS4 - ACR, Curves and brush tool to soften out some of the harsh edges on left edge and to fill the dark blue sky on both upper corners.
sharpened on dSLR fractal sharpen.

C&C appreciated.

Julie Kenward
12-21-2011, 07:43 PM
Ravi, I think you did really well here, especially with the pp techniques. I think the sharpness of the bee is great - a little lower angle or moving more to the right to get a bit more "face time" would have made this even stronger but I do like what you captured! I didn't notice the few OOF petals in the LLC at first but now that I've seen them I really wish they weren't there - but I'm sure you were working the best angle you could get at the time.

Nice bright cheery colors and the fact that you didn't flash the subject left you with a very nice clean image.

bhavya joshi
12-22-2011, 10:08 AM
I agree with Julie...Try to take face part.. In this image ..front flower coming between in face and bee. bee is doing something, but we can't see it..due to OOF flower. but its good you tried it..

Steve Maxson
12-24-2011, 05:20 PM
Hi Ravi. I like the even, natural light and the exposure is right on. Good sharpness within your DOF, though like Jules and Joshi, I would wish to see more detail in the lower portion of the face where all those pollen grains have accumulated. Given that you didn't have much room to increase your f/stop without giving you too slow of a shutter speed, a slightly lower shooting angle might have given you a stronger image - just something to keep in mind the next time you're in the field. :S3: I would also suggest blurring the rather sharp petal edges in the LLC - a minor tweak. Well done.

Ken Childs
12-28-2011, 12:21 PM
Hey Ravi, since I'm now dealing with the cold of winter, it's great to see a subject like this with nice, bright warm weather colors! I can hardly wait for spring!
As already mentioned, you did well with what you were given and the pp work is excellent. Here's another vote for a small step to the right....a cleaner view of the pollen covered face would have made this a stronger image. In addition to what's already been suggested, you might want to partially paint over the dark green in the ULC. I don't think it needs to be completely removed but as it is now, it's pulling my eye in that direction. :S3:

Ravi Hirekatur
01-05-2012, 03:32 PM
Thanks Julie, Bhavya, Steve and Ken for your suggestions. I am looking forward to the next warm season to take pictures with a better perspective. Here is the repost. I used brush tool to pain over the green leaf on the left upper corner.

Ravi Hirekatur
01-05-2012, 03:41 PM
Just as an afterthought, I also softened up the harsh looking oof petal on left lower corner too.