Jonathan_Shea
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sweetpea72
May 17, 2017
❤ this, I have a thing for bees, not jus because I have a camera or they are good for our earth... シ
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in a friend's flowerbed, right off the end of the porch. The movement of the bee was what originally caught my attention, so I laid down and waited for it to return. This is the photo that I decided to keep.Time
It was a perfect summer afternoon when I took this photo. Some friends and I were sitting on the porch, laughing and talking over ice-cold lemonades. It was warm, but not muggy, and the air smelled like fresh cut grass and flowers.Lighting
The sun was so bright when i shot this, I had to play with exposure a bit so that the petals on the flowers would not be washed out. The flowers seem to have a luminescence of their own, something I really wanted to capture.Equipment
I shot this picture with a Canon EOS Rebel, with a 18-55mm lens.Inspiration
I am a huge fan of color, so these flowers initially caught my eye. They were set in a bed of red beauty bark, surrounded by tons of other flowers. When the bumblebee started buzzing around them, I wanted to see if I could capture it in high detail. After several blurry shots of the bee, I decided to focus on the flowers, and wait for him to land on them. While I was waiting, I snapped several shots, and started to notice the petals themselves were quite stunning!Editing
I did some color isolation in photoshop, using a layer mask. There was so much color in the original shot, the purples and greens and silvers seemed to get lost. I wanted those to be the focus, so I removed some of the colors at the bottom of the photo.In my camera bag
I love my Canon EOS Rebel t3i. It's fast, and the controls allow me to switch modes quickly without missing a shot. I have several lenses i switch out, from the basic 18-55mm f/3.5, a EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS STM, EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM, a EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM, and a couple wide angles, such as the EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM or the EF 35mm f/2 IS USM.Feedback
Be patient. In order to capture wildlife, in this case the bee, it might take awhile. I would also watch for awhile before you pull out your camera, to see how wildlife is interacting, flight patterns, etc. Once you have a good idea of what's happening, it's time to pull out the camera and start composing the shot. I laid down flat on the ground for this one, as a neutral angle seemed to work better. Be creative, find a different way to tell the story, have fun!