POST YOUR BEE SHOTS (any non-butterfly all pollinators are welcome - wasps, etc.)

I finally was able to capture a shot of this guy, they are quite skittish. Caught him in a large plastic container, took him home (2 min walk), freezer with timer set to 3 minutes. Arranged a flower on my "studio" clamp, the wasp naturally clung to the flower I dipped into the container. I had about 5 minutes before I decided to open the door & let it go. Maybe able to shoot longer but recalling how nervous they are outside I decided I did not want to have to chase this thing around my house when it was back to 100%.

ID Great Golden Digger Wasp. Interesting thing if you'd like to google it. You can see the alligator clamp in the first picture.

I went to my sister in law's house for another round of photographing Bumblebees in her Lavender, although a lot of the flowers are dead and the bees have moved on I managed to find one cooperative subject. Shot with version 2.0 of my diffusers for the MT26EX RT I'm getting more detail in the specular areas of the critters compound eye.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 200) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (set close to 4x) + a diffused MT-26EX RT (E-TTL metering). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2jpG​2iB

I found this Leaf Cutter Bee early in the morning and the dew was slowing its metabolism down. While photographing it the critter woke up, started to forage, and then did some pre-flight maintenance. Very common for an insect to clean itself before leaving a flower. The tricky part about this shot was getting all of the important bits in focus when the depth of field was only about .6mm thick and the critter was moving.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/125, ISO 200) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (set to 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX RT (E-TTL metering). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2jpX​c7q

I found this Leaf Cutter Bee early in the morning, covered in pollen, and the dew had slowed its metabolism down. While photographing it the critter woke up and started "chattering" -rapidly opening and closing its mandibles. It looks intimidating, but it's not trying to bite but simply trying to get its blood pumping. Kinda like when we get cold and shiver.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/125, ISO 200) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (set to 4x) + a diffused MT-26EX RT (E-TTL metering). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Denoise AI and Clarity in that order.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2jqs​xjF

This thing was huge. A quarter (US) did not completely cover it. This is the latest of the creatures I brought back to shoot in my home "studio". I've decided to title this series "Kidnapped". I know the saturation is slightly high, but really not too far off from reality.

Again, I'm thinking this is the biggest bee, or whatever this is, that I've ever seen. It's on one of my wife's dahlias from the garden.

The first one I caught him cleaning it's wings with it's back legs. I did not hear music, however.

I believe this is a bold face wasp? I love the colors of this wasp, mostly just b&w. The wings have a blue color to them when the sunlight hits them just right. The eye of this creature is what I really like. The eyes in front & behind seem to be attached to one big eye, they have the shape of a gourd or in ground swimming pool. Did not cooperate very long. My diffuser did not handle this particular subject very well. I can't complain too much, there are hot spots but at least there is detail. I shoot RAW but what I use here is only lightly processed JPEGS so I'm sure I can go in with a brush and slightly darken those little bits.

Pigpen101 wrote in post #19093832
WTF! I was shooting a couple different bees when I saw this one hanging from a flower. It was very cooperative, letting me get close. I turned away to make camera adjustments. When I looked back, it just fell to the ground.

Hosted photo: posted by Pigpen101 in
./showthread.php?p=190​93832&i=i109272682
forum: Macro

I looked back up to the flower to see this creature.

Hosted photo: posted by Pigpen101 in
./showthread.php?p=190​93832&i=i114120016
forum: Macro

I was shooting a bumble bee on a wild bergamot and it stopped moving. I pet it a few times and after a few more seconds, it flew off. I think it was napping on the job!

I managed to find the Paper Wasps snoozing so was able to rattle off 38 frames with the Helicon FB Tube.

Aligned and Stacked in Helicon Focus SW.

Cheers

Dennis

Pigpen101 wrote in post #19099860
I believe this is a bold face wasp? I love the colors of this wasp, mostly just b&w. The wings have a blue color to them when the sunlight hits them just right. The eye of this creature is what I really like. The eyes in front & behind seem to be attached to one big eye, they have the shape of a gourd or in ground swimming pool. Did not cooperate very long. My diffuser did not handle this particular subject very well. I can't complain too much, there are hot spots but at least there is detail. I shoot RAW but what I use here is only lightly processed JPEGS so I'm sure I can go in with a brush and slightly darken those little bits.

Hosted photo: posted by Pigpen101 in
./showthread.php?p=190​99860&i=i36388297
forum: Macro

Hosted photo: posted by Pigpen101 in
./showthread.php?p=190​99860&i=i15151954
forum: Macro

With regards to those specular areas in the eyes: I think that the histogram can lie and make you think that you've got a proper exposure (exposing to the right but not over exposed) when in fact there are areas of micro contrast that the histogram isn't keying off of. Those compound eyes are like shooting curved black glossy tile -really tricky to expose for. Try dialing in a little more under exposure when shooting those types of surfaces and see how it works for you. You can also get robbed by the angle between the light, subject, and sensor not being optimal for that type of surface, and no way to tell sometimes until you press the shutter release, but I've found that shooting from lower angles (at or below the critter's eye level) works best. Would be a lot easier to expose for in a studio where you've got room for a really large diffuser, but just not practical when shooting macro in the field.

Or posing for you!

I have noticed that the lower I get the better the image. When I'm standing over a subject is when the highlights seem to appear the most. I prefer being low. I have a (very) short stool that I sit on when shooting basketball games under the net. I often have this ready so I can stay low longer. Problem is that I often find myself standing so I can block the sun.