Bees Knees

Having spent some time trying to get used to my new lens with flowers I am now trying to extend my use and experience of the lens and am now trying insects, help and comment would be welcome but not sure this is ready to go into the proper photo sections as yet because I can see it is not well focused and I would expect there is more wrong with it that I am not aware of, help please.

I would try a faster shutter speed / higher iso / tripod

Agreeing with Azz on this one, though not 100% sure a tripod is necessary - I only say this (not to contradict you at all Azz ) but because I know how hard it can be to chase insects with a tripod attached. A monopod is even worse for this sort of photography - a higher shutter speed and ISO perhaps, and just lots of practice! Good effort though! Keep it up - I quite like the composition, but it's a bit soft and noisy for me.

If you can find a bug that stays still for a practice (moths and bumblebees seem to be pretty good at this!) then use a tripod as Azz said, as it will really help

xx

Thank you, I did not use a tripod although I had one with me as I had to get into the branches and it was windy. Although it was hand held I had the "anti shake" switched on and it is very good, so not sure this is camera shake. May be wind in which case I agree with Azz need to increase speed of shutter. Must say of all the controls on my new camera I find the shutter speed the most difficult to come to terms with.

What about the composition, should I have the bee in the lower half of the shot, that is what I do when I don't think about it, this one I decided that I did not want any more sky so placed the subject in the upper half, looks a bit strange to me and I am not sure if it is because it is against my normal and natural composition or if it really is awkward.

I do like the composition, I think perhaps giving the bee a bit more room to fly off into... at least, that's what I usually do! I'm by no means an expert, but I do like insect photography, and have been told that some of mine is OK hope you don't mind me critiquing?

xx

Sorry for replying again, here's an example of one of my bee shots, it's a bit fuzzy because of p-bucket, and I don't have time atm to upload again to imageshack.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...009/hol029.jpg

just thought I'd share what I do with composition

xx

No, of course I don't mind you criticising, I would not bother to post the shots unless I wanted help with them.

I find that photo bucket knocks the sharpness off the edge as well but as I can't remember from one moment to the next how link from flicka I have to use them.

Have you tried Imageshack? A couple of people on here pointed me at that site, and it's very good so far, and simpler than flickr - www.imageshack.com

xx

I like the composition of the photo as it is. I agree that it's a bit soft but can easily be sharpened. The noise can also be greatly reduced to help with the difficult lighting conditions. You can also increase the brightness a bit and pull up the contrast as well. The photograph has potential.

Insects are notoriously difficult to photograph but you can get some really nice shots - I like going down to the canal in the spring to shoot the dragonflies/damselflies that are around.

I personally never use a tripod when photographing insects, it would be very rare that you would have chance to set up your shot and still manage to capture them. They also have a tendancy to land in awkward places and take flight at a moments notice.

Looking at your shot, you have chosen an aperture of f7.1. I personally prefer a narrower DoF as this helps find a focal point of the image. With regards to composition, I think it is fine however I would like to see the shot taken from a different angle. You have shot the back of the insect, I would try to move round and capture their head.