Foraging Mining Bee
Cool, partly cloudy weather makes the perfect conditions to photograph small solitary bees. I found this female Mining Bee foraging for pollen in a Dandelion. Gotta shoot them while I can because in a few short months they'll be gone for the year.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (almost 4x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order. Cheap trick: There was a light colored marble wall behind the flower and I positioned the critter close to it so the light from the flash would bounce off of the wall and back into the camera. I like to avoid black backgrounds whenever possible to maintain the suspension of disbelief. Everyone is use to seeing bees during the day, so an image that has a black background looks like a night time shot. You might not consciously think "bees aren't out at night" but a part of your brain will think that the image is "off" and you won't be able to just relax and enjoy it.
Foraging Mining Bee
Cool, partly cloudy weather makes the perfect conditions to photograph small solitary bees. I found this female Mining Bee foraging for pollen in a Dandelion. Gotta shoot them while I can because in a few short months they'll be gone for the year.
Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (almost 4x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order. Cheap trick: There was a light colored marble wall behind the flower and I positioned the critter close to it so the light from the flash would bounce off of the wall and back into the camera. I like to avoid black backgrounds whenever possible to maintain the suspension of disbelief. Everyone is use to seeing bees during the day, so an image that has a black background looks like a night time shot. You might not consciously think "bees aren't out at night" but a part of your brain will think that the image is "off" and you won't be able to just relax and enjoy it.