Bees

Hey guys, well I was out shooting with my XTi and Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro today an found this bee just walking around on the ground...You guys were right....Macro IS addicting!! haha

Let me know what you guys think, C&C is encouraged, im here to learn.

1).

Cool shots. Are you able to get any closer?

Thanks, im still new to all of this, I have only had this setup for less than a week, so im still getting used to it...#1 &2 were the closest i could get (wouldnt focus if i was any closer)

I love macro. Its super addictive. Bees have always been my favorite because they dont seem to mind, and they are everywhere.

,u need to get your angles a bit better,try gettting a shot of his eyes at full zoom,was he moving alot..?

Good shots esp with that lens (I tried it for a while), as mentioned above try to make sure the head/eyes are in focus and the bug is not centred by giving it more room in the direction it's facing. You'll find you get better macro shots (and at 1:1) with a full set of Kenko ext tubes (or pro-optic from Adorama) with the lens set at 70mm.
Brian V.

Well, after waiting nearly 15 mins for 2 images to appear, I gave up. Please reduce your file sizes - 1mb per image is crazy!!! If you're going to keep on posting large images like this, please post a *56k warning* addendum to the subject heading.

From the 2 images that I did see - #2 was very good, very sharp. As others have said, the angles weren't the best, but you're new to it all, and off to a very good start.

Dave

Thanks for the info guys

dpastern, ill keep that in mind next time, sorry.

this lense can only be in "macro" mode from 200-300 MM, about how much would the Kenko tubes cost? if you dont mind i would like a link.

never mind on the link! i found it

here's another from today

Not a bad start.

The last shot is an improvement. A less distracting background works wonders.

On the last, the lighting is a little harsh. This is where an off camera diffused flash can make so much difference.

I think all the 'macro' mode does on the sigam is lock the lens in the 200-300mm range and stop the autofocus hunting... If you do purchase some tubes, you'll probably want to use manual focus and can use the lens anywhere in it's focal range.

Canon_For_Life wrote in post #4062705
Thanks for the info guys

dpastern, ill keep that in mind next time, sorry.

this lense can only be in "macro" mode from 200-300 MM, about how much would the Kenko tubes cost? if you dont mind i would like a link.

Call me Dave

And it's OK. I'm not trying to sound like an old crank, just spare a thought for us poor suckers still left with 56k It takes me between 5-7 minutes to download a mb...and I can't view any other pages whilst it's doing it, cos the connection basically ***** itself and chokes

For the vast majority of purposes, file sizes of between 100-200kb are fine, especially at the 800 pixel limit that the POTN forum sets for images (both as attachments and hosted elsewhere).

Keep shooting, keep posting, it's the best way of getting better. I was surprised with your shots, cos the Bees look like they're basically almost on the ground, which is unusual. Honeybees usually don't do that from my experience (some other bees do though).

Dave