The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Gotta bee popular and get one of these in the macro category.
Groan. Sorry.
This shot is the only one to be decent at all out of many dozens and a few different sessions with the girls. The digital bin is full of crappy photos, but it’s what it takes for these lovely ladies. I have two patches of salvia in the front and maybe should try to transplant some elsewhere since they are so popular with a few species of bumblebees.
Not only did I want to get some bee images, but I wanted to faff about (no, I’m not English, but I love that phrase) with the flash and the extension tubes I snagged recently. I got the tubes specifically to go with my Lumix G 35-100mm tele because it’s a stunner of a lens - compact, bright and very sharp - but doesn’t focus quite as close as I’d like. Tubes to the rescue.
Anyway…I also wanted to work more with my Godox flash and start to understand how to control it for the light I want in my work which is just a pop of fill. By shooting in Manual with Auto ISO I have the option to control the flash output with the exposure compensation button and the forward dial. Works a treat and I don’t have to look at the back of the flash. This is on-camera, TTL with the built-in diffuser panel deployed which puts the focal length matching into manual. I also had the MagMod silicone diffuser attached. All part of my experimentation.
Oh and eventually I learned that these girls sometimes use a spiral pattern to move up or down the flower stem depending on where they start. Because there is a slight delay of shutter and flashy sync it meant I had to try to predict where one would go in her quest for nectar. If I could get focused on just the right area I could hit the shutter just a tiny bit before she settled and it kind of worked - better than trying to follow her.
Specific Feedback
Was it worth the grief? How’s the processing look? Any ideas or advice for another round in the flowers?
Technical Details
Handheld w/rig described above and the highlight weighted metering mode
Edited completely in Lr - basic global adjustments to smooth luminosity and adjust colors properly. Some sharpening and texture and a touch of legacy noise reduction. Calibration & HSL panel to further make sure colors were correct. Cropped and used some masking to bring up the blacks and shadows on the bee and create a very slight vignette.
Whatever you did, it worked splendidly. (I love the way the English talk; it’s nearly unintelligible to Americans.) I find bumblebees one of the most difficult of subjects to photograph well. You have excellent sharpness and detail here, and really nice colors. Extension tubes, 'eh? Might need to add that to my growing list of needed accessories…
Thanks @terryb - Brits have some great phrases and slang and I wish that they worked in American English, but most don’t. Like grotty. You really have to hit those Ts in a way that most of us don’t over here.
Yeah, extension tubes - they basically only serve to put distance between the sensor and the rear lens element and that pulls the minimum focus distance closer. It also takes infinity off the table - your lens just won’t do that with one in place. Depending on how thick the tube is, the light fall off can suffer as well, but you can take that into consideration with exposure. I bought the kit from Kenko (formerly Tokina) with the 6 and 10 mm tubes. You can use them individually or together and the electronic connection is preserved so the lens will stop down, meter and focus like normal.
So the crisp detail that the lens can produce is still there and that’s why I love that lens. It’s a gem. If the rain lets up I may head out again today to see what’s around and relatively still because of the low temps. Raindrops make everything better, too.
Color, detail, sharpness, the second bloom stalk in the BG – all wonderful here!! I would never have thought you used flash. Diffusing it is the perfect approach.
Hmmm – I could control the flash without looking at the back??? I need to find out more about that! I always use flash in M, and go nuts having to look at the screen all the time. You say use the EC button, I get that, but your “forward dial” is set to what? Mine is aperture. (But there are so many options to set what function to what button and dial.) I clearly need to go sit in a dark corner and think about this…
Hey thanks @Diane_Miller - it means a lot that you couldn’t tell I used on camera flash for this. That’s my goal - subtle!
When I engage the EC button on the top of the camera, I think either dial can be used to change the setting, but when there’s a flash attached the rear works for camera exposure and the front one works for flash control. When I come off the EC function they go back to what I have them set for the specific camera mode. In Manual it’s aperture front, ss back.
I haven’t tried this EC approach to flash with it set in Manual, only in TTL, which is fine with me so long as I can set the level. It shows inside the viewfinder as a + or 1 stop measure, increments in 1/3. I think I can go up or down by 3, at least I’ve never been able to go beyond in either direction. Hope that makes sense. Don’t stay in the dark corner for long!
It looks natural, Kris, it doesn’t look like you used a flash at all. You have mastered flash well. Sounds like you are also learning the bees behaviors and that will help (with patience) to get the shots you are hoping for. I know I have a tendency to follow the bees, and that isn’t good. You are always a step behind and miss the shot you want. But patience. With bees I need patience. I really like your shot here. Well done.
Coming from a flash master like you, Shirley, that is a nice compliment! Patience is a thing I need to practice more, but it does pay off with any living thing. The biggest advice I see from wildlife photographers is to study your subject and learn its habits and that is very true. Yesterday I was watching dragonflies and got a couple of shots that might work simply because I figured out favorite perches.
Funny how some things cross the pond and somethings don’t, Jens. Salvia has a lot of species, too, I think so probably does well in many environments. Not that Germany and Wisconsin are that different in terms of climate. Most of our bumblers are yellow and black, but a couple species have orange butts. Only one of those is common with the other classified as endangered.
Oh and I just fooled around with the flash on the camera again to see if the Exposure Compensation button would control it in other modes beside Manual. It does. A, P or S will give me the ability to turn up or down the flash with the forward dial when the EC button is pushed. It only works for me with the flash in TTL so that full communication/control is possible. I’m using a Godox TT685II.
