A little bee from this morning

Vivitar 100mm (kiron) f2.8 mf macro lens with AF360 flash.
Minimal cropping just to tidy up a bit.

After doing a lot of macro and just trying to get closer I am now attempting to get more DOF in my pics.

Nice shots, No3 I like best, well done.

Nice shots but would be better if you inverted them I think.
cheers
bb2

your shots are stunning.Fine just as they are . The shots are natural{Bees feed in all sorts of positions}EXCELLENT!

I tried that but they looked a little strange to me, maybe that was because I know how they were taken though.

Mike,

To get greater DOF there are only three variables and one mission, use a smaller aperture:-

1: Light, use reflectors or more flash.
2: ISO, increase it to enable the use of a smaller aperture. Try not to increase it too much that noise becomes a problem.
3: Shutter speed, lower it to enable a smaller aperture. Not always possible with a moving target.
4: A combination of any two or all three.

Some subjects actually produce a better photograph if there is some OOF area.

Actually there is another way which I've seen used to great effect, but it only works with a static subject. Use (what I call) focus bracketing. Take a number of shots with different points of focus, then blend them in your favoured PP software to produce a totally in-focus image.

Insects are quite lethargic in the early mornings if that's a help, but I guess you knew that anyway.

Yes I knew this, what I was trying to say is that when I do macro I normally stick at around f13/f16 which 9/10 times gives me the subject in full focus but sometimes makes the picture look a bit flat.
Now I am experimenting with DOF to try and give them a lift so to speak.

I have found in the menu a display setting that shows either a preview shot or dof through the viewfinder when I use the preview switch but when I set it to dof all it does is darkens the whole display as I use a slower aperture, it doesn't seem to actually give me much tbh.

When you have the camera set to DOF preview, that's exactly what it does. It'll stop down the lens to your selected aperture so that you can 'see' the resulting DOF. I find it of limited value to be honest. Much better to take the shot, then review it, rather than preview it.

By doing this, you can get lucky. If you try to preview it to get it perfect, by the time you take the shot, your subject has got bored (or hungry) and gone away. That's my experience anyway.

Do try the 'focus bracketing' method, you might be surprised. You will need a willing (or dead) subject though.

I only use that preview thing for checking exposure (there is a menu for DOF preview or preview on the screen) and then only on things that don't move --- it gives you the over-exposed warning on the image so you can see if you care or not. For things that move I do what Peter suggests, take the shot, then check it, then if the wotsit is still there take another and so on. For flowers, I'll sometimes take a sequence of shots at different apertures then pick the one I like in the comfort of my study. But then flowers don't fly away, although I have had petals fall off

Best wishes, Kris.

Nice shots, getting a bee to stay dead still is near impossible, Practice practice.some you win some you lose.