Author Topic: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees  (Read 1204 times)

knb

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Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« on: September 05, 2017, 17:29:00 »
I have many times tried (a bit casually) to catch bees or bumblebees in flight with micro-nikkors. But it mostly fails, as their speed is quite high compared to the distance from the camera. This day I tried again, with a 105 f/2.5 late pre-AI lens. Nowhere near a macro lens, and it probably lacks the resolution of macro lenses at the near limit. But it forced me to get a bit further away from my target, and that actually helped getting something that perhaps can be called keepers.

Edit: I have corrected the lens version, it has not even been AI-converted so I do not really understand why I originally wrote just "AI".
Kjetil Narum Bakken

Bjørn Rørslett

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2017, 18:56:48 »
Apparently you have got on speaking terms with the pollinators of the Echinacea. :D Nice close-ups and colour combinations, by the way. The 105 f/2.5 never fails to deliver.

knb

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2017, 21:15:46 »
Thanks Bjørn. I found the green background pleasing both for the Echinacea and the bumblebee. Your opinion about the 105 f/2.5 is shared by me, it is after all my default walk around lens.

For some strange reason I have misinformed about the version of the lens, it is actually a late (K) pre-AI.
Kjetil Narum Bakken

Bjørn Rørslett

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2017, 22:01:38 »
Thus with the "Gauss" design and multicoating, both features which contributed to even better performance of this old classic.

Bent Hjarbo

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2017, 22:19:04 »
Apparently you have got on speaking terms with the pollinators of the Echinacea. :D Nice close-ups and colour combinations, by the way. The 105 f/2.5 never fails to deliver.
+1
Well done, not that easy with an MF lens, I must try as well, I have the AiS version, and also the Sonnar design.

Anthony

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2017, 00:05:01 »
Star shots, especially §1.
Anthony Macaulay

DNSJR

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2017, 00:17:13 »
wonderful shots; much appreciated, thanks for posting
DNSJR

Jakov Minić

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2017, 00:39:17 »
The colors and the bokeh are just stunning!
Well done :)
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Frank Fremerey

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2017, 08:45:16 »
Love these shots. One of my favourite topics. Bees in flight. Wonderful colours and precision.
You are out there. You and your camera. You can shoot or not shoot as you please. Discover the world, Your world. Show it to us. Or we might never see it.

Me: https://youpic.com/photographer/frankfremerey/

Akira

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2017, 08:56:18 »
These are all stunning shots.  I'm thrilled by the rivalry tension between these two guys!  Thanks for sharing!
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

knb

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Re: Purple Coneflower attracting bees and bumblebees
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2017, 13:15:49 »
Thanks a lot guys, glad you liked it.

Bjørn: Indeed. I guess that the optics/coatings are the same on the K and the Ai, mechanically they differ of course.

Bent: Actually, I do not think AF would have helped me much here. I needed to pre-focus to be sure I had both the (bumble)bee and the flower in focus, not 100% successful in all pictures I'm afraid. All were hand-held for the flexibility of changing target, a tripod would have helped in other aspects though. Do you see any real-world difference between the results from the Sonnar and the Gauss by the way? Thank you for your comment.

Anthony: Thanks. In the first one I do like the framing of the background flowers, which makes it more tidy than the second one.

DNSJR: Thank you. I have seen that you have contributed with bees as well, you have some of them almost drowning in pollen. Pretty extreme.

Jakov: Thanks a lot. I also feel that the colours work. This lens is nice for bokeh believers of course (I am one of them). All are taken at f/4, I stopped down a bit to have some DOF for my subjects.

Frank: Thanks to a fellow bee photographer. I know you did a series of this topic earlier, pursuing the in-flight picture. It is actually a bit harder than it seems (which you know), you have a lot more experience than me by now.

Akira: Thank you. I also enjoyed the interaction between the species. There were no real confrontations though, as they were all too concentrated with their work.
Kjetil Narum Bakken