My first flora image - Busy bee

[shane shacaluga]

This year it has gone directly from autumn to spring with no winter to speak of. Still walking about in short sleeves. The birds have not yet arrived but flowers and insects seem to be starting off the year early

Testing my new Nikon 200-500 as a long distance handheld macro lens

D800e
200-500 at 500mm
f8
1/2000
ISO 800
Center point focus active at time of shooting. Center weighted metering watching the blinkies for the white petals

50% crop to remove other flowers in BG. Muted some yellows in BG and selectively sharpened flower and bee. Run a surface blur on BG to smoothen it even more

Hope you like it

Comments and critiques always welcome

[David Cowling]

Hello Shane. Good first image. I like the composition here and the bee adds further interest. Exposure and colours nicely handled. The only nit I have has nothing to do with the photography but the hanging down flower bud casing on lower left bloom attracts the eye when it shouldn't. I carry a small pair of scissors to snip off unwanted parts that are not going to harm the plant.

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for the comments David. You are right about it drawing the eye. Will take that onboard for the next one!

[shane shacaluga]

Tried cloning it out. What do you think?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely image clone works well, now what about the flower head bottom left, I think that will do the trick. Lovely tonal range and excellent focus.

[shane shacaluga]

Lovely image clone works well, now what about the flower head bottom left, I think that will do the trick. Lovely tonal range and excellent focus.

Thanks

I will try that later on this even on the PSD and see how it looks

Regards

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful and striking image and great suggestions! I love how the bee is stuck right into the center on the flower. Excellent detail in the whites and a lovely BG.

I love my 100-400 for this sort of thing. It focuses to 3 ft and with a 1.4 on it it is great for insects and small flowers. I don't know your lens but it sounds very similar.

Hope to see more from you here!

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks Dianne

I am still getting to grips with this lens. My old combo 300f4 + 1.4tc focussed a lot closer but had no VR. These types of shots were not as easy because of this. The new VR in this lens is quite impressive. Still have not tried it with the TC but reviews says it works quite nicely for static subjects

Will try and post more flora images now I have the right tools