Here is another bee I photographed the other day. 90D 180 macro 1/640 F/18 iso 800. I did not use a flash because it was a bright sunny day. This was a very small flower which is what attracted me to it with the bees flying around.
Would a defused flash help here. One advantage of not using a flash is using the high speed shooting.
Dean, I am sorry I have been slow to comment on this beautiful image. I am out of town, and this is the first time I have been able to turn the laptop on and check out NPN. To answer your question, I don’t think I would have changed the lighting in this, although the one bud could stand being toned down some as it pulls my eye. But I love the side lighting on the bee. A flash would have changed that. I think if this was my image, I would try cropping all of the out of focus flowers on the left that isn’t adding to the image, and crop up a little from the bottom just to make it into a nice composition. I love how the lighting is hitting the little hairs on his back. Great job.
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman. I tried a 4x5 crop. Let me know if this helped. Not sure because landscape looked ok as well. I do worry about the crop factor so have to be careful. Is the crop factor not much of a concern with 26MP camera.
Dean, I am so sorry for being so late in responding. I was out of town, and didn’t get on NPN through my laptop but twice I think the whole week. I think this crop works, but I might would give him a bit more room on the left, as it looks a bit tight at his south end. You really got a lot of details in him, and cropped in you didn’t lose anything, so you had plenty of pixels to work with. Great shot.
Dean, your original post shows off the bee and the flowers well. It’s interesting that the bee’s wings are a bit tattered. I’m finding your cropped version to tight on the bee’s behind.
How much to crop and crop shape depend on how you’re thinking about displaying an image. If you might want a print for display, then it’s important to use the standard sizes, because a non-standard size crop leaves blank areas in the print that need to be hidden with non-standard mats. That increases the costs significantly. With electronic display only, you can get away with any shape. If it’s a smaller screen (or a limited size file, like NPN) you can crop pretty dramatically and still provide a quality view.
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman and @Mark_Seaver I agree with youin a little more room in the left side. I saved the crop option (so crop is not deleted out of the photo) So I will adjust that. Thanks Mark on the printing which I do want to do so that was a big help. I liked the 3x2 ratio on Landscapes but 18x12 frames not not seen often where I used to get them (still online)
Well composed with excellent color and detail. The background works well for me. I am really enjoying looking at all the color in this image.
