Bee & the flower

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eummagic

New member
Its been longtime since I posted a photo in this section. Because, I didn't get a good shot to do so actually... I captured these when I was at my cousin's house in bangalore. I totally took 15 shots continuously and have selected 2 shots that looked good to me. Your comments/critics pls...to improve the shot.
Exif Data:
f-stop: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/400
ISO: 200
focal length: 280mm
(same for both shots, I wonder why I didn't zoom at 300mm. I realised this only after looking at the exif data back home.)
Bee1.JPG
Bee2.jpg
 
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J

Joseph Bautsch

New member
While both shots are good captures the first one is the best. Excellent exposures and motion freezing. Good depth of field with the entire bee in focus. Good composition with the bee in the top right third of the shot. The back lighting highlights the bee so that the eye is drawn straight to it. Otherwise a black bee on a dark background and it would have been lost. Good bokeh for the background. I think I would have liked the bee facing a little more in the direction of the camera. That would have given it a little more impact. But even so, it's an overall very good shot. Also, I don't think being zoomed to 300mm would have made any difference.
 
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E

eummagic

New member
Joseph Bautsch said:
While both shots are good captures the first one is the best. Excellent exposures and motion freezing. Good depth of field with the entire bee in focus. Good composition with the bee in the top right third of the shot. The back lighting highlights the bee so that the eye is drawn straight to it. Otherwise a black bee on a dark background and it would have been lost. Good bokeh for the background. I think I would have liked the bee facing a little more in the direction of the camera. That would have given it a little more impact. But even so, it's an overall very good shot. Also, I don't think being zoomed to 300mm would have made any difference.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Joseph, for your encouraging words. In fact, you are correct, if the bee had faced the camera, but I have 2 shots in that position where the bee is very blurred. Hence the reason why I didn't put it up in the forum.

I think patience is the key for these kind of shots until we get what we want. I will try again when I get the opportunity. Thanks once again.
 
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K

KWJams

Senior Member
The second and third shots are great. They tell a story. It is unfortunate that the strand of spider web creates a distraction in some great shots.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Nice capture that would be really hard to improve without the bee's full collaboration ;-). Somethings can't be changed even if we'd like to.
 
J

Joseph Bautsch

New member
I really like the third shot with the blurred wings, even better than the first one. The blurred wings and even the small amount of blurriness in the body of the bee adds to the story of the bee and the flower. Most everyone goes for the absolute motion stop and it does make for an impressive shot. But the motion blurring by the subject, not just camera shake, tells the story of a very fast moving bee feeding on a flower. Again the back lighting on the bee makes him stand out. The only thing I would do now is to burn in (darken) some of the highlights across the top of the flower, also crop some of the green across the bottom and some of the empty space on the right in post processing. This is one I would have printed and framed.
 
J

Joseph Bautsch

New member
To give you and idea of what I mean I re-cropped the shot, lightened up the bee slightly and slightly darkened the flower. I would not worry about the spider web it's not significant enough to be distracting. Working with a small jpeg dosen't give the best results. You can do more in post processing with the full size file.

Bee1a.jpg
 
K

KWJams

Senior Member
Joseph Bautsch said:
To give you and idea of what I mean I re-cropped the shot, lightened up the bee slightly and slightly darkened the flower. I would not worry about the spider web it's not significant enough to be distracting. Working with a small jpeg dosen't give the best results. You can do more in post processing with the full size file.

View attachment 2856
Click to expand...

Much better composition.

As hard as I try. When my eyes wander around the photo, probably because the details are so robust, the spider web acts as a leading line and pulls my gaze to follow it. Not that is a bad shot or a major distraction it justs seems to be out of place. Like a great landscape picture ruined by seeing someone's shadow in the foreground.
 
J

Joseph Bautsch

New member
Hmmm... Just goes to show you how differently people see things and still be right. It's what makes art, art. I have no problem with the spider web being there. The only way to take it out is to clone it out and that would be a difficult task.
 
E

eummagic

New member
Joseph Bautsch said:
To give you and idea of what I mean I re-cropped the shot, lightened up the bee slightly and slightly darkened the flower. I would not worry about the spider web it's not significant enough to be distracting. Working with a small jpeg dosen't give the best results. You can do more in post processing with the full size file.
Click to expand...
Your post processing is really great! I am not so good in photoshop and do little things with the help of tutorials....need to be serious on that too!
 
Patrick M

Patrick M

Senior Member
What I found really fascinating was the blurred wings. Look how they're moving, not up and down, but more like a helicopter.
That makes the photo for me. Brilliant
 
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