Honeybee Close-ups

I shoot these on a mono-pod. Just stand in among the flowers and wait. Usually a bee will come along shortly. You have to be quick on the shot because they don't stay long. One way to get them to sit still longer is to mix up a bait solution. I use a little honey and sugar mixed with water. Put it in a small spray bottle and mist the blooms. The bee will usually give you plenty of time to compose and focus several shots before moving on. I feel that flash is essential so that you can shoot with a small aperture and high shutter speed. A tripod or other support is also essential, at least for me.
This shot was taken with a Canon XSi, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro, Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite (half power both heads), on a monopod. EXIF is embedded but in case you can't read it: 1/250sec, f/11, ISO 200.

More stacking.

Wanted to put up another stacked shot. This is a portion of Cedar with the blooms that are starting to emerge. It is an eighteen (18) image stack done in PMAX with Zerene Stacker. The first image is one of the single images that was used to make the stack and the second is the stacked version. Shooting info: Canon XSi, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro, Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Lites both heads half power, Tripod, Infrared Remote Shutter Release, 1/250sec, f/8.0, ISO 100.

Photo a week. 8/17-8/23

Here's my second pic of the week. Caught this lynx spider and he was still long enough to get several shots. Let me know what you think.

Hoop