topic photographing bees and other fast flying things? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

photographing bees and other fast flying things?

stargirl23 — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:10:54 GMT

hi, i'm having some difficulties capturing things in flight... mainly insects like bees. i've got a Canon Rebel T-6.

the first picture would have been a great picture except the wasp that flew by unexpectedly turned out blurry. any tips on photographing bees or wasps in flight?

the second picture would have been a great picture except when i used my flash to capture the hovering hoverfly, the flowers become washed out.

Canon EOS Rebel T6, f/9, 1/160 sec, ISO-100, focal length 55mm, no flash

Canon EOS Rebel T6, f/9, 1/160 sec, ISO-320, focal length 55mm, with flash

Re: photographing bees and other fast flying things?

ScottyP — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:31:34 GMT

As for the washout I'd shoot in raw instead of jpg so you can maybe recover from blown highlights or under exposures better. As for the flash I would probably use a -1 stop of flash exposure compensation if shooting up close like that.

When i shoot bugs or bees on flowers or other macro shots I usually use manual focus. Then I don't really twist the ring to fine tune focus, I just lean forward and back to focus. The depth of field is so shallow when you are that slide that AF is not reliable, at least not on a camera with a simpler AF than a 1dx or something.

Re: photographing bees and other fast flying things?

cicopo — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:32:34 GMT

You freeze action or movement with much higher shutter speeds than what you used. Takes a bit of trial & error to find the right range for specific things.

Re: photographing bees and other fast flying things?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 14:30:08 GMT

"... i'm having some difficulties capturing things in flight."

First, all cameras, no matter how much they cost, have their limits. A static flower and a fast moving bee are on opposite ends as you have noticed. Some creative techniques need to be employed.

The bee just sitting on a flower doing its thing should not be any problem. Pretty normal exposure. A bee in flight over a static flower will be more difficult. I have used flash to stop hummingbirds in flight but I am not concerned with the BG.

If I wanted the bottom shot you used for an example, I would shoot it twice and stack it in PS. Do one shot for the bee and a second for the flower. I would also try to do it with out flash. Adding the flash just adds more issues to overcome if it really isn't required. Kicking the SS up to 1/2000+ and ISO to 8000 may eliminate the need for two stacked shots. However, I use PS all the time so the post editing needed is no problem. I find it easier to get two very different subjects together in one photo a snap with PS.

For that bottom shot try this first;

Canon EOS Rebel T6, ~~f/9~~ f8, ~~1/160~~ 1/2500 sec, ISO-~~320~~ 8000, focal length 55mm, ~~with flash~~ no flash

Re: photographing bees and other fast flying things?

RobertTheFat — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 15:59:28 GMT

Anyone asking the OP's questions is too inexperienced to be fooling around with stacking.

Re: photographing bees and other fast flying things?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 16:22:39 GMT

Robert,

Everyone starts from the begining. Even thou !

Not exactly a bee on a flower but two vastly different exposures required. Unless you stack. It's not that hard to do.

Re: photographing bees and other fast flying things?

Waddizzle — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 23:59:38 GMT

@ebiggs1 wrote:
Robert,
Everyone starts from the begining. Even thou !

Not exactly a bee on a flower but two vastly different exposures required. Unless you stack. It's not that hard to do.

Looks more like layer masks than image stacking to me.

Re: photographing bees and other fast flying things?

ebiggs1 — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 07:48:40 GMT

The technique used is a layer mask. But it is two photos 'stacked' on top of each other. Each one with its very different exposure settings and editing. A layer mask can be used for many different things, stacking is just one of them.