Always a pleasure to see your stuff. After being with a dual head flash for some time, this season I am prepared to try a single head flash and a big 'ol conical diffuser. But one is sort of pushed into encircling the lower part of the diffuser face around the lens, so you get those single highligh...

Love that second frame!

FotoChris wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 19, 2024 3:09 pm

These bee portraits are something else!!!

"Sweat Bee in a Sour Grass Flower II" is my personal favourite, the pose and light and everything just works so well! Well done!!

Thanks!

I don't get a lot of time to shoot, and when I go out I end up seeing more bees than any other critter.

Adalbert wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 19, 2024 2:02 am

very nice

Thanks!

Great shots. I see the two flashes in the reflections in the eye on pic 2. I do not dislike the effect but prefer the one reflection as in pic 3. I used two flashes for a year or two but have gone back to using one now. I find buying new items to try and improve the look of the lighting is part of ...

What an excellent set! Particularly the first and last pics. Great timing and just about perfect placement of the shallow depth of focus! Cheers. Beats. Thanks Beats! I've gotten use to picking a spot where I want the focus to start and, while locking that point, twist my wrist and/or the critter's...

Decided to pick the rig back up after about a ten month break and go back to chasing semi-active to hyperactive critters. No focus stacks, the tech just hasn't caught up to my kind of macro. Maybe someday someone will use the same tech that's currently used for sensor based image stabilization and c...

Thanks for the detailed post Beatsy! Although our lighting requirements are different I still learn something from looking at your setups. I'm able to light, and therefor resolve, most surfaces pretty well. The only thing giving me a bit if a fit are glossy black compound eyes, and I'm either runnin...

Went looking for something to point the camera at and found some female Mining Bees foraging for pollen in Dandelions. Fortunately it was windy last weekend and the breeze masked the vibration that I caused when I grabbed onto the stem of the flowers. In both cases the bee was turning away from the ...

bobfriedman wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 10, 2022 4:19 am

very nice work.. beautiful images.

Thanks!

I wouldn't presume to know how viewers might react to an image. Each viewer is an individual with unique interests, tastes, and sensibilities. While not disagreeing with the second sentence above, I’d challenge the first. Isn’t a fundamental element of photography to understand how people will reac...

I wouldn't presume to know how viewers might react to an image. Each viewer is an individual with unique interests, tastes, and sensibilities. I have to confess, though, that when I look at your photos in this thread, my eyes are drawn to the detail of the bees more than the color of the background...

leonardturner wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 26, 2022 3:49 am

Striking and very well-lit images, which succeed both visually and informatively. Well done!

Leonard

Thanks!

Relying on a flash fall-off to create a black background is a choice that's not necessarily based on esthetics or ease of use. An academic, for example, may find a more natural color background distracting when the purpose of an image is to call attention to the structure and details of a subject. ...

My Mason bees have been hatching off an on for the last two weeks. Seems like the weather cannot make up its mind and we have had a few false springs. Unfortunately I have not had much time lately, but I did manage to get a couple of shots. ech Specs: Canon 90D (F11, 1/125, ISO 200) + a Canon MP-E 6...