Sweet Endeavours

Bombus terestris (Family: Apidae; subfamily: Apinae; tribe: Bombini species, common name: Bumble bee)

Last summer I bought the Tamron 180mm macro lens, and I started experimenting with it. I kept all those pictures in my archives, but forgot about them. While I was busy reorganizing these archives I stumbled over this macro photo. As I shoot all my photo's in RAW, I could apply all my recent experience to edit those photos with the recently purchased Nikon Capture editor 4.1. In my opinion, the coolest features of this program are the Unsharp Mask (USM), the changeable colour space and white balance. Curves and the Hue adjustment for skin tones can enhance picture quality even more. More about the picture now: In this photo I wanted to achieve the highest possible shutter speed at ISO200 in case that the insect would fly away so I could freeze any movement of its wings. This meant that I had to shoot wide open, but luckily there was enough light available in August, so 1/1000s was no real problem. This had as a consequence that the depth of field became really shallow, but as I kept some distance from the bumblebee, the final result proved to be a bit better than expected.

Photo by Frank Panis

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO200
Shutter speed: 1/1000sec @ f/4
Flash: none
Image: RAW, converted in NC4.1.3, USM 100/3/0, AdobeRGB, New WB: daylight-direct sunlight, then opened in PS7, resized and added USM 150/2/0 and saved in JPEG. Then the bumblebee was cropped for a more detailed view.  

Bombus terestris (Bumble bee)

Looking among the thorns one can always find interesting insects, living unnoticed by people. This bumble bee is covered with tiny whitish things (which I don't know where they came from) creating a very interesting image.

Photo by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Tamron SP AF 90 mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/320 sec - f/7.1, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, USM added and resized.   

Apis mellifera (Family: Apidae; Common name: honey bee)

One more bee in one more flower, yet every picture of this insect seems different in many ways. This was shot on a windy day and made my life miserable since it was constantly on the move. At one moment the wind stopped and so did the insect - perhaps waiting to see what happened. At this moment I managed to get two almost identical shots of it.

Photo by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO100
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec, f/18, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS, levels adjusted, USM added and resized.

Apis mellifera  (Family: Apidae)

While I was taking close up pictures of the bee feeding on this plant a second one arrived. I had already focused on the first bee so, bringing the newcomer in focus was out of the question since I was working at the closest focusing distance of the 90 mm macro which is less than 20 cm from the front of the lens. When the second bee started feeding I took some shots counting on the small aperture for the necessary depth of field.

Photo by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Tamron SP AF 90 mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO200
Shutter speed: 1/60 sec, f/32, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: RAW, converted in Photoshop CS, sharpening and contrast adjusted, saved in JPEG, levels adjusted, cropped + USM added.

Apis mellifera, Family: Apidae (common name: honey bee)

Walking in Sao Jose dos Campos (Estados de Sao Paulo, Brazil) I came across some nice flowers and was taking photos when this bee decided it was lunch time. I went on shooting without taking it into account so, I was nicely surprised to see that in one of the photos the bee was in focus while approaching the flower. Bees are almost everywhere, which makes taking a "different" photo of them very hard. I believe this photo does just that.

Photo by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/500 sec, f/11 Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, smart sharpening added and resized.