Ramsden,
Like you, Macro photography has taken me to wierd and wonderful places. Also like you, I use a 90D and take lots of photos of flowers and bees and other creatures (polinators) that visit them.
With bees it's a matter of luck sometimes. Honey bees aren't too aggressive but here in the SW US, aggressive Africanized Bees are present and it can be a problem. So it's best to observe the bees and listen (for that buzzing noise a swarm makes - like in the movies) first to make sure there isn't an angry swarm of killer bees nearby and it's safe.
Generally my setings are:
- High Speed Continuous Shooting
- Zone AF (covering the center of the flower or the creature with that zone or placing the zone where you think the creature will be when you take the shot)
- AI Servo AF
- I also use back button focus (holding it down while composing and shooting) removing that function from the shutter button which only locks exposure and releases the shutter.
- Shutter speed of 1/1000th or higher and aperture of f/11 (f/8 minimum) and auto ISO.
Catching bees and other flying creatures in flight and in focus is a combination of quick reflexes, lots of practice, luck and skill. In my case, luck is the most important item in that list. If you have an external speedlite, using it for fill set to High Speed Sync works if the subject isn't directly lit by sunlight.
Since bees travel from flower to flower, they are somewhat more predictable than some other polinators, so predicting their direction of flight might be slightly easier than a hummingbird, etc. but its still challenging. Going through some of my results, my best bee shots seem to be when they are not in flight.
Here are couple of my recent attempts:
Good luck!
LZ
Hi LZ
Just had a great 90minutes in the garden.
I tried 24mm OK but not close enough
50 mm OK - wouldn’t take extension tube - reasonably close but not enough
Took out my 85 mm prime - quite good - then attached the 25mm extension. Great
Ditched the tripod - too slow for bees.
So ended up on my hands and knees in the garden chasing bees.
I’ll send more details later.
Thanks - so helpful and my camera was set just as you suggested.
Hello, Ramsden! It looks like your on your way to getting the hang of it 🙂
My wife and I take a different approach to shooting the insects in our yard. We do use a 100mm macro at times, but generally use our tele zoom lenses. We let our yard go natural many years ago, so it was eventually taken over by many species of native plants that pretty much bloom year round here in Florida. Our porch is about 5 feet higher than the yard, so I have a good perch to stand and watch the insects feeding on the wildflowers, tiny bees to butterflies. Typically, I watch for a pattern in their feeding behavior so I can predict where they will be. I use "One shot" with the fine, one AF point, most of the time but will switch to Servo H1 with "Whole area tracking" if the insect is constantly on the move, like the Eastern Carpenter Bee in the 3rd image. Subject is set to "Animals". I'm not sure if your 90D has these settings, but Servo w/tracking should be available and will work. Just set your Servo Case "Tracking sensitivity" (-2) so it will lock on and "Acel./decel. tracking" (+1 or 2) so it won't get distracted a switch to a leaf or flower petal. I use these settings for these types of shots with either the macro or tele lens. It's tough to get a macro shot of a foraging insect 🙂
All of these have been reduced for posting. Click them to get better res.
Newton
