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Pollinating Pollinator



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This little bee caught my eye as I was wasting a little time in my daughter's backyard garden one afternoon.

This little bee caught my eye as I was wasting a little time in my daughter's backyard garden one afternoon.
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Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in my daughter's back yard in Scotts Valley, CA.

Time

I took the picture at about eleven in the morning.

Lighting

The sun was bright. Fortunately, I was able to catch him on the sunny side. The catch light in his left eye array is the sun itself and would not have been so prominent in diffused lighting. In this case, the bright sunlight provided perfect lighting for my subject and allowed me to maintain an angle that kept shadows to a minimum. The only significant shadow is from his left middle leg and, while heavily contrasted, does not seem to detract much from the image.

Equipment

I used a Nikon D810 with an old-school Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 lens. Between the glass and the camera, I stacked two XIT extension tubes: one 36mm and one 12mm. Although the XIT tubes have the autofocus and aperture control contacts, the lens is totally manual, so I shot in manual (good choice, I guess) at f/2, for 1/2000th of a second with ISO at 64.

Inspiration

I was waiting for everyone to get ready for a day trip up to the Muir Woods. My daughter's garden was full of colorful blossoms and the bees were having a field day, so I decided to pass the time taking macro shots of them - the bees, that is.

Editing

I limited processing to Lightroom CC and did minimum adjustments to sharpness, clarity, saturation, and luminance. I adjusted white and black levels automatically. The most significant post processing manipulation was cropping. I didn't crop out much of the original - just a little here and there to put the sharpest, most focused part of the photo in the left third of the picture laterally while still containing the full antennae. I didn't consider that the wings really contributed to the image I wanted to present, so I left them out to achieve the balance I wanted.

In my camera bag

Hard to say. I am constantly changing the contents to have on hand what I think I'll need given the mission at hand or what I think I might encounter. Normally, I have the D810 body with a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 attached as my walk-around setup. I keep a Nikion 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 on hand in case I have to reach out, and the old Nikon 50mm f/1.2 in case someone happens to smile at me. Keeping the weight down, I have a set of three XIT extension tubes for situations like the one in my daughter's back yard. Beyond that, there are all the standard cords and wires such as chargers, remote shutter, lens cleaning supplies, etc. Unless I'm sure I won't be using it or don't have room with a given setup, I usually carry a Sigma EF-610 Super Flash attachment and a slave mount for it.

Feedback

Be patient. Look for a juicy, irresistible blossom, point, adjust, focus, and wait. You should only need to refocus slightly (or move yourself a few millimeters in or out) and shoot. Make sure your lens isn't shadowing your subject or that you have a flash to compensate. Have fun. Take the time to watch the little guys and learn from them as you go.

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