Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
I captured a scene where three busy bees seemed almost like old friends meeting up at their favorite local spot, the vibrant cactus flowers, for a quick catch-up.
Any feedback welcome.
100 mm at ISO 500 and 1⁄640sec at ƒ/5.6
I love the trio of bees, Saundie. Great depth of field to get all three nice and sharp. Looks like a race for the blossom.
That’s a super view of these three - the one on the right has some catching up to do if he wants his supper! The two flowers, one open, one closed, have their own charm. If I were being really fussy, I’d clone out the fourth bee’s wings (?) above the trio, but I do love this shot as is.
It’s hard enough to get one in focus, nice job getting all three. Looks like a busy spot. Nice one Saundie.
Don, I agree with @Ed_Williams that it is hard enough to get one in focus while in flight, but to get three is really great. I’m not sure what is causing it, but in the large view on my screen, it seems like it is getting distorted, like it might have been cropped in too much, and so not enough pixels. It really is a nice shot, with those cactus blooms below the bees, and the BG oof.
Thanks Dennis, it seems they are always racing! 
Thanks Ed, can’t say I wasn’t surprised myself.
Thanks Shirley it has been cropped, but I am not sure that I can see the distortion, I am not aware of cropping doing that, would be interested to know more about it. Thanks again.
Don, I probably used the wrong term, “distorted”, but what it looks like is when I am working on a photo in LR and I go to 200-300 % for viewing, and it begins to not look sharp anymore. I went back and viewed your image again it is 4081 on the longest side. In the guidelines it suggest 2000. So I am thinking that might have something to do with the way it appears on my screen. It is an image I would be thrilled to call my own. I like your edit removing the wings of the oof bee. To let others know that you have made some changes it is good to add +Rework or something like that to let others know you have reworked the image. You can do that by clicking on the pencil next to the title, type in +Rework and then click on the yellow checkmark below the title.
Hi Shirley, thanks for explaining. No its not your screen, I see it on mine as well! Looks grainy, I will investigate. Thanks for the tips on the +Rework will use it next time.
Don: A terrific catch and wonderful plane of focus management in particular. The rework is a nice refinement. I think your resolution issues might stem from the large size of your image and the site’s compression effects. The guideline for posting images 2000 pixels on the long side helps to ameliorate that issue and also makes your image less of a target for image thieves who do look for full resolution posts. >=))>
Thanks Bill appreciate your comment and advice. I will reset my Lightroom to 2000px on long edge, makes sense from an anti theft angle as well.
