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Butterfly and bee

butterfly flower nature bee close up

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15 replies to this topic

#1
IanB

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butterfly 1.jpg

NIKON D5100, F/5.6, 1/80SEC, ISO400, 18-55 KIT LENS

 

bee on sunflower 1.jpg

NIKON D5100, F/11, 1/100SEC, ISO100, 18-55 KIT LENS

 

Hi, took these in the garden earlier in year.

 

Your thoughts on them would be appreciated, good or bad.

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.



#2
Stas

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I think bee is too dark. If you have raw of this photo you can try to fix it.



#3
Mark Win

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Love these pictures and especially the composition of the bee and flower, many might go for the full rounded bloom but this one has really been well taken and draws in the eye..

This site is full of very good accomplished photographers.. i love it



#4
PrettyCranium

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I like them both. Nice to see the butterfly's proboscis.  I do agree that the bee is too dark, and that you might be able to correct that in PS.  I think if you did, some of the details will really come out. Bees are so hard to photograph, and this one looks nice and sharp.



#5
IanB

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Hi, thanks for the comments folks.  I actually like the Bee quite dark so that the body blends is a bit with the Sun Flower center.  I will lighten up the RAW file a bit though and see what it comes out like.

 

Ian.



#6
scoobymax

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I think they are both great pictures, the different angles certainly draw my attention. I must agree with Stas though, because the bee is sitting on the dark centre of the flower it's almost camoflauged apart from the stripes, but like Stas says if you have the raw image this can easily be fixed. Great shots though. :)

#7
IanB

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bee on sun flower 3.jpg

 

Ok, have upped the exposure around the Bee a bit, do you prefer this or the original.  I am Still leaning towards the original with the Bee blending in more with the Sunflower center.

 

Ian.



#8
TBonz

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I prefer the second edit with the lighter bee, but that's just me...nice shots!



#9
stuguy

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Hi Ian nice shots nice to see you also trying out macro with the 18-55 kit lens.

Good composition of the bee. The bee stands out alot more in you edited version.



#10
chickeesmom

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I like your second one also, very nice, both of them.



#11
PrettyCranium

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I like the edited version better, too, though of course it is all just personal preference.



#12
Jay

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It looks like the focus was a touch off in the first shot.  It would be nicer to see more of the butterfly in focus by increasing the aperture a touch.   I find people overdo wide open apertures when a smaller aperture can get everything sharper and still have some nice depth of field.



#13
Tony892

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Like both your shots and demonstrates the capabilities of kit lens. Like others I prefer the second bee, but that is personal choice on my part. Think Jay's comments above are interesting.

#14
greatscott94

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attachicon.gifbutterfly 1.jpg

NIKON D5100, F/5.6, 1/80SEC, ISO400, 18-55 KIT LENS

 

attachicon.gifbee on sunflower 1.jpg

NIKON D5100, F/11, 1/100SEC, ISO100, 18-55 KIT LENS

 

Hi, took these in the garden earlier in year.

 

Your thoughts on them would be appreciated, good or bad.

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

 

Howdy Ian,

 

   I as well love having the bee in the center of the sunflower but what is working against you is the lighting. You would be best to have some light on the sunflower, it would create a separation between the bee and flower. Candidly I can barley see the bee in your 2nd photo, you don't want to have the subject of you picture hard to locate.

 

Here's a similar photo I took this summer of a bee on a sunflower, the only real difference is I had the sun over my shoulder putting some light on the flower.

 

9828370933_f549fa9e6d_b.jpg

 

I was using a very inexpensive macro lens, it's a Sigma 70-300 3.5-5 lens that retails for about $150. Would a macro lens help you? Sure. But you have some good gear, all you need is better lighting to improve your shot.

 

Keep at it...

 

Cheers bud.

Oh and you should probably up your shutter speed, 1/80 and 1/100 is really slow for fast moving insect. Bee's a very "jittery" so it's easy to get motion blur, better lighting will help you get faster shutter speeds.



#15
flarephotos

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I'd like a bit more detail in the shadows for the bee shot. Good composition on both, but the butterfly may have benefitted from a slightly higher angle to see more of its fantastic wings and vibrant colours.

#16
IanB

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Great comments folks, cheers.







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: butterfly, flower, nature, bee, close up