Impersonal Angles

Bee in the Weeds
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

I dialed up the way back machine to 2007 so I could show you an example, from my own gallery, of what you shouldn't do when composing your subjects. The image that I've included isn't necessarily bad -it has a lot going for it from a compositional perspective. But one thing that it's lacking is the connection between the subject and the viewer because you're forced to stare at the top of the critter's head, instead of seeing it at "eye level", and it's almost impossible to connect to it.

You wouldn't photograph the top of a persons head, so why shoot an insect from the top down?...

When composing your subjects try to do it from an angle that's at their level. It's much easier to convey a sense of personality when the viewer can make eye contact with the subject, like this shot:



I recently showed that image to one of my daughter's friends and she laughed because to her it looked like the bee was smiling. Changing people's perceptions of insects is one of the things that I'm trying to do with my photography, to get them to see the critters as more than just "bugs".

Truth be told I think that they do have distinct personalities, but their personality won't show in your work if you're shooting from impersonal angles...

Get Out of My Face Deconstruction

Get Out of My Face
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

Another day, another sunflower missing a petal -a victim of my hobby. I like to photograph the critters in place, disturbing their habitat as little as possible. It just wasn't going to happen with this one, since the petal it was perched on was above my head. Plus I really wanted to take this solitary bee to the picnic table on my patio so I'd have full control over the scene.

Fortunately sunflowers have a lot of petals :)

The Mrs. had spotted this creature the night before I shot it, but I waited until morning knowing that it had a really good chance of becoming active. Even though it was a little bit cooler in the morning it was still 24C (around 74F) and I was only able to work with the bee for about 20 minutes before it flew off.

Because of the way the antenna were positioned across the eyes shooting from the side for a portrait was pretty much out. I have a few portrait frames, but I think the antenna are just going to be too distracting. Even if I had focused stacked it the scene still wouldn't work -the antenna would be in focus, but still laying right across the eye. So I went looking for a head on composition that would make the most out of a single frame, the result is the image I've included with this post.

The background was a big concern, and also one of the reasons why I didn't shoot it in place (the background would have been either black or yellow). I selected two books from my wife's collection, one that was orange and one that was dark blue. Both of them had glossy book covers, and the colors of them changed a little under the flash. The critter's fur blended in with the orange background a little too much, so I switched the the blue one and managed a few frames before the bee got tired of me and took off.

Focusing and framing were pretty easy, since I was holding onto the petal with my left index finger and thumb (for the framing) and sliding the lens on my left hand (to focus the scene). I got the mandibles in focus, and then rotated the camera vertically until I could see texture in the bee's forehead. Because the antenna are swept back they fell into the plane of acceptable focus. The trick is to get the subject as parallel to the sensor as possible, so none of the depth is wasted. Easy, it just takes practice.

Until next time, happy shooting :)

Habitat Lost

Solitary Bee on Basil I
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

One of the reasons why I haven't been shooting as much as I use to, other than I got burned out and needed a break, is that a lot of the areas I liked to shoot in are gone. I use to find the Wool Carder Bee, included with this post, at Lago de'Averno, sleeping in the Lavender that was planted along the jogging trail around the lake. Some of the people who visited the lake couldn't resist picking that flower, and what the locals didn't take a very voracious beetle ate the rest. Now that the city is paying someone to maintain the jogging trail there aren't any wildflowers around the lake either, so the only habitat for these magnificent creatures is on private land that I don't have access to.

Now that I'm living in a house with a yard I'm looking at the flowering plants and I'm trying to make sure that the critters have something to eat year round. Just this morning I spotted a male Wool Carder Bee tackle and mate with a female while she was feeding on the flowers in my basil. Hopefully it's the beginning of my own population of them :)

As for the photo itself: I spotted this bee sleeping in my basil in the evening, but waited until the next morning to photograph it. Large solitary bees like this one can get their metabolism going pretty easy, so had I tried to shoot it that evening it just would have flown away. Even though it was cooler in the morning it was still able to put up its front legs in a defensive posture, so I had to move slowly when approaching it with the camera.

I cut the flower that it was perched on with a pair of scissors, again being careful not to move it too fast. I then cleaned off the basil flowers in front of it, since they'd just be in the foreground and out of focus (too distracting). Then I simply held on to the basil flower with my left hand, rested the camera on that same hand so that everything was on the same "platform", and focused by sliding the lens on my hand (what I call the Left Hand Brace Technique). Being in full control of the motion in the scene leaves very little motion for the flash to freeze, and it's one of the reasons why I can get a lot of detail in a macro image even though I'm shooting at a relatively high Fstop. A lot of the image softening that most people blame on diffraction is really just motion blur...

Controlling the angle between the bee and the sensor on the camera is as easy as moving the flower between my thumb and index finger. What I look for is a "magic angle" that will make the most of what little depth I have in a single frame. Looking for new compositions and angles is easy since I'm not restricted by a focusing rail, and now that I've been shooting hand held for several years the muscle memory needed to move the subject and focus the scene is permanent (I can go months without holding a camera and still nail the focus and angle).

Last but not least: I'm not special, anyone can shoot the way I do -it just takes practice. Until next time happy shooting :)

Look for Something Interesting

Anchored
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

In May of this year I moved into a villa, and we now have a small back yard that we’ve been filling with flowers. My wife bought a vine with large white flowers and a small species of solitary bee took up residence in it. Since this is our first year here I thought about leaving them alone, but I just couldn’t resist the temptation to take one flower apart and take a few photos. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken any macro photos and I needed the practice.

The bee was really small, only about a millimeter wide and a few millimeters long, and due to the way that it has anchored itself to the flower’s stamen my first attempt at framing the critter were really poor. Looking at the images that I had taken, and at the bee’s perch, I decided to look for a different angle. If I couldn’t find something more interesting I’d have to call the entire session practice and bin all of the photos that I took. After completely rearranging my table top studio I managed to get the scene I was looking for and it’s was then that I noticed something really amazing…

The bee had anchored itself to the flower’s stamen with its proboscis!

I’ve never seen that behavior before; normally a bee will clamp onto a plant stem with their mandibles when they sleep. But this one was using its tongue :)

I shot a short video of the studio that I set up so you can see how I took the shoot. Pretty simple really, but the clamps allow me to use both hands to steady the camera.

Extreme Macro -the Art of Patience eBook

Extreme Macro -the Art of Patience is now available as an eBook. You can also order it via iTunes

Featured in Holy Crop!

When Rikk Flohr first contacted my via a private message at Deviant Art to let me know that he was featuring my blog I had mixed reservations. But after reading a few posts at Holy Crop! I realized that Rikk was basically saying what I have (that you need to get it right with the camera) and he's not a priest in the church of "fix it in post". Go on over and give it his blog a read!

Published by AMC Outdoors

Tuscany series 1-1
Originally uploaded by Dalantech.

This image of a Cuckoo Bee was published by AMC Outdoors. It was a pleasure to work with their staff -very professional!