We have a ton of these flowers in AZ and the bees love them. So this photo I cropped so only the flower was in the photo but I wondered if leaving some of the cactus there is good. The bee is the subject. This one the morning sun help the lighting. I also wanted her to have her tongue into the flower. This is a different kind of bee, I should get a book. So any suggestions on this with crop or anything else welcome. This was HH so 90D 100-400 at 330mm (this lens focuses close) iso 1250 1/800 f/18 these bees zoom in and out of the flower so that is why no tripod and high speed shooting. They are fast. Also not sure if this bee blends too much
Dean, you capture a nice sharp image of this bee. They can be very fast, and so HH is about the only way to get the shot. The spotlight of early morning sun is right on the subject and center of the flower, which was nice, except to me, it seems too bright, especially on the stamen right above the bee’s head. The green to the right top outside the bloom is a bit distracting to me as well. I think the cropping out of the cactus itself works for me. It is certainly a shot worth working to improve the bright spots on. Nice details.
Hi Dean, The composition works for me and the spotlight effect on the bee is pretty cool. I agree with Shirley on the critique of the brightness. Especially the bright spot on the lower bee’s leg looks pretty blown out. Nice image needing some tweaking of those bright areas.
Dean, the spotlight effect is excellent and you’ve got good sharpness in the bee and the flower’s center. The square crop highlights the best parts well.
Thanks Mark, I am not a big fan of 1x1 but maybe there is a time for it, more so with insects maybe.
Dean: I like your crop and for this 1x1 works well. If the subject was centered that might change things but the bee’s position in the frame is just right. Nicely done. >=))>
Hi Dean. A very neat photo with the tongue sticking out and the spotlighting. You don’t mention what kind of exposure control you used, but for something like this where you’re likely to end up with lots of variation in the lighting, manual exposure works very well. Since you’re in an area with lots of sunlight, just adjust your exposure so something white in direct sunlight isn’t quite activating the over exposure blinkies and your exposure should come out pretty well.
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