Beginner Bee and Fly

[Orangecroc]

I think these are my best macro shots yet. Any CC to improve in any way is always appreciated.

Bee macro 030817(1) by Ben Gray, on Flickr
Bee macro 030817(2) by Ben Gray, on Flickr
Fly Macro 030817 by Ben Gray, on Flickr

 

[alfbranch]

Nice honey bee shots is that a laurel hedge
They are feeding from extra floral nectarines.

 

[GardenersHelper]

That's going well Ben. Nice detail in the first one and the DoF falls nicely with the whole head and body and the near legs covered.

The last one is tricky. Both the fly and the leaf are highly reflective. What you may want to do in such circumstances is to underexpose enough (and it may be quite a lot) to avoid anything blowing to white*, and then bringing up the shadows in post processing (probably coupled with an increase in exposure/brightness and a decrease in highlights.

You probably won't be able to underexpose and lift enough to avoid the metallic green taking on a yellow tint in the brightest areas on the fly's back.

* Not quite what I meant to say. It is a matter of judgement and visual preference, but you may want/need to leave some very small areas blown to white. It is the larger areas of white that personally I find distracting and prefer not to have in my images. YMMV of course.

 

[Orangecroc]

Nice honey bee shots is that a laurel hedge
They are feeding from extra floral nectarines.

Not sure, it's the neighbour's bush.

That's going well Ben. Nice detail in the first one and the DoF falls nicely with the whole head and body and the near legs covered.

The last one is tricky. Both the fly and the leaf are highly reflective. What you may want to do in such circumstances is to underexpose enough (and it may be quite a lot) to avoid anything blowing to white*, and then bringing up the shadows in post processing (probably coupled with an increase in exposure/brightness and a decrease in highlights.

You probably won't be able to underexpose and lift enough to avoid the metallic green taking on a yellow tint in the brightest areas on the fly's back.

* Not quite what I meant to say. It is a matter of judgement and visual preference, but you may want/need to leave some very small areas blown to white. It is the larger areas of white that personally I find distracting and prefer not to have in my images. YMMV of course.

The light was a little harsh, I was concentrating on getting focus, it was very windy, the leaves were moving 6" in either direction in the wind. The highlights aren't actually blown though, just very hot. I'll pay more attention to that going forward and try and avoid light that causes hot-spots, or hold up something to diffuse the sunlight.

 

[Orangecroc]

Took a quick look on Google, it is a laurel.

 

[GardenersHelper]

The highlights aren't actually blown though, just very hot.

Looking at the histogram I see the highlights are indeed not being blown completely to white. (For my images) I go by the visual appeal/distraction (to my eye), and that includes colour bleaching even when areas are not completely blown to white. YMMV of course.

I'll pay more attention to that going forward and try and avoid light that causes hot-spots, or hold up something to diffuse the sunlight.

It may be unavoidable at times, hence the under-exposure/shadow lifting suggestion. (Something I do a lot btw.)