Bee in flight
It must be dinner time, a simple bee coming in to land on a flower
It must be dinner time, a simple bee coming in to land on a flower
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May, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in the back garden on what has been a gloomy dayTime
I think it was around around about 2pm.Lighting
The clouds has started to clear and things were staying to brighten up. The sun has already gone behind some trees which line the bottom of the garden unfortunately, so I didn't have the direct sunlight which I was after.Equipment
I shoot with a Sony a77 mark 1 and this shot was taken using a sigma 70-300 macro and using a cheap extension tube. I held the aperture ring open with a piece of blue tac which works a treat but probably frowned upon by many.Inspiration
I have wanted to take a shot like this for over a year now and I noticed on this particular day that there were quite a few bees around, which in itself is quite rare nowadays. But as I got my kit sorted to go outside that's when the clouds moved in, fortunately things improved a little later in the dayEditing
I only edited this in lightroom, a bit of a crop, light adjustments and a touch of clarity and sharpening.In my camera bag
Obviously I have my Sony a77, I then have Minolta 28mm and 50mm prime lenses, my main lens of choice though is my sigma 17-35 f2.8. Being primarily a landscape photographer I always have my tripod and cable release with me. Most importantly though and not in my bag is my wife Trudi who is an extra pair of hands and makes a wonderful flask of coffee.Feedback
Patience, this was one shot out of about 350. I'd had a lot of near misses and some OK shots but the bulk were of just a flower and no bee. Try to concentrate, I found that my mind would wander after just a couple of minutes of staring at the same point and then when a bee came along I wasn't ready to press the remote release. Shoot in manual focus as you don't want to bee(hehe)waiting for your auto focus to sort itself else and that shot flies right past your lens. If you fancy a warm up then practice on hover flies, these move slower and are a little more predictable. Which ever you choose to photograph pick your flower and set up your composition on that using a tripod, switch off sleep mode on your camera and when for your target to enter the frame, I have had no results by chasing bees around my garden, in fact I think the neighbours worry that I've escaped from a secure unit. Mostly though, enjoy what you're doing and do not be afraid to experiment.
