Bee Happy
May, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken near the Willamette river in Keizer, Oregon.Time
The photo was captured at 7:18 PM on 5/17/16. The bees were active for about 10 minutes and then started to leave for the evening.Lighting
Used a homemade flash diffuser for macro work. Basically a Pringles can with a styrofoam bowl with paper and plastic attached as a diffuser. The exposure is lit solely with a flash and no ambient light.Equipment
The gear used was: Canon 5D III, Sigma 105 f2.8 macro lens, Canon 580 EX ii, Pringles can diffuser, hand heldInspiration
I have low vision and have a hard time seeing fine details. My interest in macro photography is being able to get in close and see the fine details that I would never be able to see otherwise. The inspiration for this photo specifically was to capture an image representing spring time. The busy bees and the blooming flowers.Editing
Post processing workflow was fairly basic. Shot in RAW. In Lightroom CC: cropped, adjusted exposure, color adjustments, local sharpening, noise reduction. In Photoshop CC: high pass sharpening and local sharpening. Exported as a jpeg.In my camera bag
In my gear bag: Canon 5D III, Canon 7d, Canon 16-35 f2.8 L, Canon 24-105 f4 L, Sigma 105 f2.8 macro, Canon 50 f1.8, Manfrotto tripod, remote trigger, wireless flash trigger, ND, Grad ND, Circular Polarizer, batteries, cleaning supplies, multi tool, flashlight, headlampFeedback
If you are not in a well lit area the lighting can be tricky. You will need some kind of off camera flash. You can find out how to make a homemade diffuser on youtube. Focussing can be difficult as well. The method I use is to manually focus to the closest focus and move my body back and forth while looking through the viewfinder. When you see the eye in focus click the shutter. Be patient and don't give up. It can take a while to get the picture you want. Watch the flight patterns. Bees will return to certain flowers more than others. Pick a busy flower with the right composition and wait for them to land in front of your lens.
