December 2023

[Kim Pilegaard]

Boulogne sur mer, France
D750 35/1.4 Ai

Marvellous trompe d'oeil!

[Bruno Schroder]

Thanks, Kim. The city is full of them, each time I go there, I find new ones.

[Bruno Schroder]

Windy in Ambleteuse

D500 500/5.6 PF

[Adli Wahid]

Lol Thanks Erik - I really like the results from this Panagor PMC 90mm - made by Komine & sold under different brands i.e. Vivitar etc. It goes to 1:1 and not too heavy.

Very nicely captured Good plan to shoot as they are waking up, would probably work for humans also 

Vibrant - Almost too sharp rendering

[Adli Wahid]

Hi Frank - learning how to do photo stacking is still on my to do list :-)

If you are still enough and I don't do something silly like bumping into the flowers - they can sometime stay up to 10 seconds. For context, this bee was collecting nectar from the side of the flower (aka nectar robbing) and my camera was pointed down. In most cases though, it will be really quick so I often observe first and see if there's a pattern. Generally I find that I can get a pleasant image in terms of dof/sharpness  if I take a shot of the whole be from the side at around f/11. Of course flash & diffuser.

In the field, there might be some use cases for tripod (i.e. male bees roosting at night or waiting for ground nesting bee to emerge from their hole) but in most cases I find hand-holding gives me more flexibility - i.e. bee moving to the next flower.

how long will they hold their position?


Frankly this looks very much like a stacked shot and you need a lot of time to set the tripod up, focus and do the stack shot

[Airy]

Windy in Ambleteuse

D500 500/5.6 PF

A painter's work. The few bird silhouettes add spice, and the few touches of colour lighten the mood.

There are rare cases where the result "out of the camera" looks like processed, where actually it is not, or quite minimally so. Fog, spray, rains, or lens quirks (not a factor here I guess) may contribute to that. Is this such a case?

[Akira]

Ferris wheel.

[Birna Rørslett]

The concept of 'White ..mas' is now taken too far ?

Viltrox 75mm f/1.2, Zf.

[Fons Baerken]

Surprise, 'Sinterklaas party'!

Zf, 35mm f/1.8S

[Bruno Schroder]

A painter's work. The few bird silhouettes add spice, and the few touches of colour lighten the mood.

There are rare cases where the result "out of the camera" looks like processed, where actually it is not, or quite minimally so. Fog, spray, rains, or lens quirks (not a factor here I guess) may contribute to that. Is this such a case?

Yes, I'm not fan of long time spent in front of a screen. I did a minimal up contrast, a bit of saturation, then crop and output sharpening. It is all from the weather, which was, and still is, an anthology of all possible sorts of waters flying everywhere: rain, fog, sea spray, sea foam, waves, puddles ... Even with these conditions, the light of the Opal Coast remains special.
Thank you for the kind words.

[Bruno Schroder]

how long will they hold their position?

Michael Erlewine showed stacked bee pictures some years ago. When I asked the same question, he explained that sometimes, bee spend a night out and sleep on a flower. He was taking the stack while they were warming up, which may take minutes.

I once had a bumble bee stay for 2 days on a muscari flower. It went out during a warm day in February and was trapped by the cold evening. It was so slowed down that I could take multiple pictures of the elongated proboscis, which moved in extreme slow motion. After 2 days the sun came back,  and half an hour later, the bumble bee was gone.

[Frank Fremerey]

Hi Frank - learning how to do photo stacking is still on my to do list :-)

If you are still enough and I don't do something silly like bumping into the flowers - they can sometime stay up to 10 seconds. For context, this bee was collecting nectar from the side of the flower (aka nectar robbing) and my camera was pointed down. In most cases though, it will be really quick so I often observe first and see if there's a pattern. Generally I find that I can get a pleasant image in terms of dof/sharpness  if I take a shot of the whole be from the side at around f/11. Of course flash & diffuser.

In the field, there might be some use cases for tripod (i.e. male bees roosting at night or waiting for ground nesting bee to emerge from their hole) but in most cases I find hand-holding gives me more flexibility - i.e. bee moving to the next flower.

Thank you. Great stuff. 90mm is really short.
I do my "insects in flight" with a 300PF plus 1.4E3 Converter so 420 mm focal legth and a very good stabilization in the lens: https://youpic.com/image/15261879/look-no-hands-by-frank-fremerey
I just see that I also got some 60-mm-shots: https://youpic.com/image/15082344/hover-fly-macro-by-frank-fremerey ..... https://youpic.com/image/12524165/one-bee-by-frank-fremerey


Yet, I did not use the flash & diffusor system yet. tried it with natural light, so less definition.Thank you again for "Upgrade Ideas"

[ColinM]

The return of the pink ship. She is back from posts
D500 500/5.6 PF

A ship that comes with its own theme eh Bruno

I like the hint of "mirage" or thermal effects in the air just above the waterline (drooping letters in "one")

[ColinM]

Adil, its so nice to look at these solutary bees having heard you describe your interest in them on Fridays NG Zoom call.

Very nicely captured Good plan to shoot as they are waking up, would probably work for humans also 
Vibrant - Almost too sharp rendering

I love it Eric - trying this with humans can lead to a grumpy response sometimes 

For me the rendering is nice.
You said much of your work is hand held Adil - I guess flash helps a bit, but the clarity of the eye lenses can be hard to achieve even when you're using a tripod.
Beautiful

[John Geerts]

Windy in Ambleteuse

D500 500/5.6 PF

Great shot, Bruno.