Very nice Andrew, a great testament to the quality of the camera.

Regards
David

I'm baffled by this whole thread to be honest. It seems that a question was asked, albeit a bit of a strange one, a civil couple of responses were given and then Algi wades in with provocative irrelevance which only serves to upset a new member needlessly.

No wonder this Forum is on its backside.

Regards
David

It's a touch out of focus Stan, I prefer the one you posted on the Gallery as this has a nicer feel to it.

Regards
David

The wind is a constant issue - you'll find it's virtually impossible to get a still day outdoors in the UK and even the slightest breeze seems like a gale at high magnifications. Despite this, I love the challenge of taking shots in these conditions, I don't like dead subjects, it must be natural and 'in the wild' for me.

There's no substitute for practice, experience and experimentation, so keep at it and your style will develop as your expertise grows.

Regards
David

Congratulations Patrick, it must be a very proud moment for you. Unfortunately I can't make it over the water but I wish you all the best.

Regards
David

You've chosen a difficult subject here Andrew, Bees are just about the busiest insects in the garden and move so quickly. I would recommend trying some slower moving stuff first and concentrate on the following:

- Composition

- Exposure

- Focussing Accuracy (moving your body and the camera is often the best approach, rather than using the focussing ring on the lens)

- Lighting - you need a more diffused light source as the flash on these is a bit harsh

I know you've been trying out smaller apertures to increase the DOF and this is evident here, but if anything there's too much DOF in these as the background has not blurred out, which makes it a bit distracting. Macro is one of the hardest photography disciplines, not only because of the difficulty in getting sharp, well exposed images, but also because it's hard to get composition and personality into the shots. This is something I work very hard to try and achieve, but I end up throwing away most of my images as they just aren't good enough. Here's one I took last year with a very similar setup to the one you have used, except there was no flash:




I would recommend also that you have a look at the work of Charlotte Fabian (charlotteF) and darkskies, two of the members on here who have posted some cracking macro images.

Regards
David

I've got one with the Japanese Tourists in it too! Probably not quite as original:




Regards
David

It's a closely guarded secret Alan People on this hill who own a bit of land are charging ridiculous amounts of money for one night's camping with no facilities.

We are camping out on a field behind the in-laws house which has the fantastic view down the hill that I mentioned, but we're a little concerned that other people might try to get on there and pitch their own tents on private land. They will get a rude response if they do!

Cheers
David

Wow, thanks to you all for the great feedback on this image, I always knew it was a 'difficult' one, but for me it wasn't a case of 'rescuing' it because I knew it had all the basic ingredients. It was just a case of processing it in a way that works, but that is actually more difficult than it sounds. The colour version in particular seems to have created an impact in the Gallery, but on reflection when I look at it against all of the other versions I think it just needs the foreground toning down a little and maybe a crop (as suggested by MrB) would also be beneficial.

The light on the day when I shot this image was spectacularly good, but shooting into introduced some challenges!

Regards
David

Third attempt, I'm happier with this as a compromise, also the annoying stick has gone now.




Regards
David