chrishurst

Bee on Flower

A closeup shot of a bee on a purple cone flower. I used a special Macro Lens which has the ability to focus on very small objects that are only a few inches fro...
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A closeup shot of a bee on a purple cone flower. I used a special Macro Lens which has the ability to focus on very small objects that are only a few inches from the camera. The Macro Lens alone isn't enough to bring out the amazing details of the flower and insect. I also used an extension tube which is attached between the camera and lens. The extension tube simply moves the lens farther away from the camera and allows it to focus on objects closer than it normally can. Finally I used a dedicated macro flash which attaches to the end of the lens. The flash is very helpful because of the very small apertures needed for macro photography. I set my camera to manual exposure mode, aperture is set to f-11 or f-16, shutter speed is set to around 1-200s and ISO is usually around 400-800 depending on the lighting conditions. The aperture setting helps to create focus on the largest depth of field possible. The fast shutter speed helps to freeze the action of the insect and eliminate any camera shake if handheld. Many times this combination of shutter speed and aperture will create very dark photos, this is where the flash comes in. The flash is the only thing that is not on manual control, so the flash uses the cameras metering system to adjust its light output and help to correctly expose the image.

ISO 800 - f-11 - 1-200s - 100mm - Handheld

Canon EOS 7D Body and Canon EF 100mm f-2.8 Macro Lens with 31mm Extension Tube and Macro Ring Flash.

Photographed in Bloomington, Minnesota on 8-9-2014 at 11:30 AM
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