I was trying out a 135mm TS-E macro lens. I wondered if it could be useful but I only had one day with it. Was thinking having the lens open more with everything in focus (using the tilt)
So I set to a narrow DOF at F/8 on just the bee. She was position in a way that would keep her in focus. I was wondering if the front of the flower being soft is ok. ISO 500 1/250 90D
Dean, you did a great job focusing on the bee. I really like his position on the flower. The softness of the flower in front doesn’t bother me, as I think it draws my eye more to the bee, which is the subject. If you had used a higher number f-stop, I suspect the background would have started coming into focus. I think I would prefer, if you have it, a bit more room on top so the wings of the bee don’t feel as crowded. It isn’t bad, but a bit of brightness on both the back of the bee, and maybe a little on the front of the flower where the sun is hitting, if you could tone it down just a bit might improve the image even more. Wonderful details in the bee.
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman. One reason for the tight crop was a flower stem or something behind the bee. So I opened the crop more now and lowered the brightness on the back of the bee and the right side of the flower. I posted the photo too that showed the part behind her. I thought it was a distraction so removed it.
I think that improved it some. I see what you were up against with the stem behind the bee in the second of the repost images. I think you managed it well. Lots of fun getting out to shoot the bees right now, but I am truly challenged trying to get them in flight. Most of the time that is what I am trying to accomplish. Whew! Looking forward to more of your images.
PS I just added repost to your title so folks will know that you have made an edit.
Bees are pretty quick from flower to flower. What I have been getting a little more luck with is watching for a little while and see how they are moving around, some flowers get more visits. Then I pick a bright sunny day so I can increase the shutter speed and keep iso lower. This way I can use high speed shooting. On not as bright days I will use a flash setting ISO around 500 Aperture priority and bracket down so shutter speed increases. The flash I set like 3 stops higher. The only issue here only one shot because I do not have a high speed flash, but the wider opening on the lens gets the flash charged faster for some reason.
I sit and just wait in the flowers and focus on one flower. Bees come in slower than they take off, you may notice most of my flying bees are coming toward the flower. The trick is to get the bee to fly in focus with the flower, so I do set F-stop around F/16. I do sit for 90 minutes sometime. Its relaxing, that is for sure. I will say this, it gets easier to capture flight over time.
I just tried what you said, well, I didn’t push the f-stop up has high a number as you said, but played our with different f-stops and I got a few more keepers. I will post a bumble bee I took this afternoon. Thank you for the advice.
I like your repost in giving the bee more room and you did well removing the stem. The soft flower in front is fine with me and helps draw me to the bee as our eyes naturally go to what’s in focus. I’ve used the same technique with humming birds but have never tried it with bees. Snowing now so will wait for a better day to try it with bees.
Dean, the repost (with the fixed stem) looks very good. Softness somewhere is built into macro work unless the subject is still enough for a stack, but stacks introduce their own processing challenges. The details in the bee stand out well.
Dean: Great take on the bee and the FG OOF parts are of no consequence to me. I do have a small preference for the repost and you did a real nice job eliminating the stem. 
>=))>
