Come a little Closer
Jul, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This is one of the first pictures I took with fast shutterspeed. I was so new to everything related to photography; I was just playing around in the garden with my first real camera and started changing the settings and then this shot came out. I remember being really, really happy with the picture and I still am! For me this picture kind of marks the beginning of my love for photography. The garden was so beautiful, everything was blooming and I wanted to capture it all.Time
This picture was taken on the 16th of June, 2013, late in the morning; at 11:15. The sun was already quite high and the weather was really nice. I spent all morning and afternoon in the garden, taking photographs, trying different angles and just letting the creativity flow. I was very unexperienced but I knew what I liked and what I didn't like and this picture was definitely on the 'like' side. Now, three years later, I'm still very proud of it. Took me some time to get the guts to put it out there, for the world to see. I am happy to see it's received so well!Lighting
The sun was shining brightly and I used ISO 800 to compensate with the fast shutterspeed of 1/4000 - although, back then, I had no idea what it all meant, I just tried and adjusted the settings until it looked good - and F/5.6.Equipment
I used my Canon 1100D - which I still use today, although I'm hoping to upgrade to a 70D as soon as I've saved enough money - with the standard kitlens, an 18/55mm. I shot from the hand, no tripod was involved, nor did I use a flash.Inspiration
I have always loved nature and found it fascinating to capture a busy bee from up close. I wanted to see detail instead of a flash of yellow buzzing by. I was fascinated with the possibilities a fast shutterspeed offered; to capture an animal like this and freeze it in motion is absolutely great! It's like a new world opens up, because you get to see things you normally wouldn't.Editing
The only things I did were enhancing the colors by saturating the picture just a little bit. I also darkened the shadows to make the picture les 'flat' and make it 'pop', so to speak. It adds some drama to the picture. I also added some sharpness and cropped it - the original picture is larger. I cropped it to create more motion, the bee moving from the right, slightly up to the flowers in the upper left corner, with some room left in the bottom to make it seem as if it moved from there, leaving an empty space.In my camera bag
At that time, the only equipment I had were my Canon 1100D and the kitlens. I now also have a Canon 70-300mm zoom lens and a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens. I love those two last lenses and the kitlens is also of good quality. On top of that, I have two filters, grey and gradual grey; a circular polarizer; and lens cloths for cleaning.Feedback
The biggest advice I can give; have patience. Stay there, in that uncomfortable position until you have the perfect shot. Keep shooting, fill up that SD-card, the more the better, because with these fast bees, you can never have enough pictures to choose from. Use the sun as your lighting and try to play with the flowers as well; put them in one side of the image and let the insect fly towards it. Try to capture that motion by the correct use of composition and at post-processing; crop it wisely. Let your creativity go and try new things!
