The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
We have several managed bee hives at home, and normally, they find their watering spots closer to their hives. Of late, they have decided to take over one of the bird waterers close to the house. They don’t worry us too much, except when they get caught in my hair.
Specific Feedback
The bird bath is round which made the horizon line a bit wonky and of course, put some bees out of focus.
Getting close enough will be a challenge. These are huge crops down to just around 10% of the original. The pinky coloured FG is the OOF opposite side of the bath. They were all shot with the same settings, but each was processed a little differently.
Any comments at all are always welcome.
Technical Details
ISO 1600 70-200 @131mm Hand Held f6.3 1/640
Mainly ACR basic adjustments with masking of bees. Topaz Denoise. (Too plastic-y?)
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Glennie: Absolutely wonderful. I like them all but #1 is far and away my favorite with every bee nicely separated from the others and the incoming flights. The reflections of the bees are better on #1 as well. Exceptionally nice work and I hope you have continued opportunities. >=))>
Outstanding images! I agree with Bill the first one is my favorite. Topaz did give a slightly plastic-y look to it, but you worked with you had at 200mm and a heavy crop. It doesn’t really detract from the image to me.
Your image number 1 just makes me smile. It’s such a perfectly framed community. Here’s a case of technical excellence combined with thought-provoking aesthetics.
I do think the first image ended up with the best composition, Glennie. All of them are excellent and getting the camera right at water level worked beautifully. You might try putting the camera on a tripod on one side of the bath and triggering it with either a wired or wireless release. Our neighbors have a hive or two and visit our birdbaths and pond regularly and they’re completely unconcerned with us.
Hi Glennie,
This is wonderful. I don’t think I have every seen a bee in a reflection before. The setting itself (more familiar in bird photography) makes this one interesting, but beyond that, it’s wonderfully composed. I concur on #1 being the favorite. It reminds me of grazing mammals too, which makes it a really powerful image for showing the grand importance of a small but critical species.
Not sure whether it’s an illusion, but it looks like they might benefit from a slight clockwise rotation. Could just be me though.
Thanks for sharing this one. It will stick with me for a while.
ML
Oh wow, I am enjoying these, Glennie. The reflections are nice. I like @Dennis_Plank idea of putting your camera on a tripod and using a release to capture the shot. Number one is my favorite too I think. I would be happy to call either one of them mine though! Well done!
Holy Cow!!! These are awesome! The idea is unique (at least to me) and so well done. I’ll go with #1 as well but it is a close call. NR looks fine! Keep working this setup!
Thank you everyone! @Marylynne_Diggs when I first noticed the bees lining up your thoughts were pretty much what I was thinking. It’s a bit like seeing “big cats at the waterhole” type of setting. And, I had trouble with rotation. The bird bath is round.
@Dennis_Plank I’m experimenting at the moment with tripod and remote. But I need to train the bees to land in one spot. I’ve put a long straight thin piece of wood across the bath as well and hope to get more bees in focus.
Hmmm – a rectangular casserole dish with an interesting “bird perch” small branch glued to a short edge and water filled right to the middle of the branch?
@Diane_Miller ,I’m thinking something similar. I don’t have a square casserole dish so I’m perservering with the round terracotta bath. I’ve tried floating big leaves, stuck on little sticks and bigger sticks and filled the bath to overflowing. The bees don’t like anything I’ve tried and won’t settle. Patience.
