Bee macro - 236KB

[paladin]

I've seen much better macro shots by all of y'all. Any suggestions. Shot at full zoom. Thanks. Paladin.
80% blow-up
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/pladin/Paladin/Bee1.jpg

Shutter speed: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: Built-in + Red eye reduction
Flash EF guide number: 4.09
Metering mode: Center-weighted average
Drive mode: Single frame shooting
ISO: 50
Lens: 7.2 to 28.8mm
Focal length: 28.8mm
Subject distance: 0.220 m
Macro focus: on
AF mode: Single AF
Image size: 2272 x 1704
Rotation: none
Image quality: Raw
White balance: Auto
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal
Picture Effect: Normal
Color profile: Canon G3 - True Color Non-Linear

[hipshot]

-You almost always want the insects head to be in focus. I don't even bother with AF for any lens with my 300d when shooting macro.
-I havent had much luck with just the built in flash and macro night shots.
-You don't need red eye on.
-You can crank up that ISO if its at night, about to where you first start noticing noise then just use a noise filter.
-Macros of bees are cool, macros of fingers aren't so cool :wink:

BTW, how did he get on that finger!
If you threw him on a white piece of paper you could get a good stock photo.

[Jewel]

Here's my first bee attempt. I got pretty lucky considering I was hand-holding my camera.

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y3e0jy&outx=980&oq=0

Jewel

[hipshot]

Thats an awsome capture! It takes a lot of shots to capture bees in flight.
I would say the flowers are over exposed, but you might be going for that cuz it definelty works. Actually it wouldn't be hard to adjust the flower contrast in photoshop without affecting the bee since it is isolated in the black, just a thought.
Nice photo.

[Jewel]

Thanks for the tip. Actually, I may try that because you're right. I had to add so much contrast to get the bee to pop out, it made the flowers look too sharpened. I can just isolate them and do it separately.


Jewel

[paladin]

-You almost always want the insects head to be in focus. I don't even bother with AF for any lens with my 300d when shooting macro.
-I havent had much luck with just the built in flash and macro night shots.
-You don't need red eye on.
-You can crank up that ISO if its at night, about to where you first start noticing noise then just use a noise filter.
-Macros of bees are cool, macros of fingers aren't so cool :wink:

BTW, how did he get on that finger!
If you threw him on a white piece of paper you could get a good stock photo.

Hipshot, ahhh, did pretty much everything wrong! :( It was daylight but in the house ... didn't think I had time to attach the external flash ... actually didn't know I would need a flash since it was daylight. Sooo, your advice is to use an external flash (if needed) and manual focus? Full zoom or wide open? My brother just reached up and let the bee crawl on his finger ... then told me I better hurry up because it was extending its stinger and if he got stung I was going to get hurt. :lol:

Jewel, very nice shot of the bee. You captured the colors I was trying for. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

Paladin

[hipshot]

Full zoom or wide out depends on the minimum focal length of your lens and the size of your subject.
In the house handheld you can use a larger aperature.
A flash would help in the house but depending on your lens it might be too close. I get away with my built-in-flash because my lens macro is 200-300mm! I'm saving for one of those macro flashes :lol: