My usual :)

[blacknstormy]

 LOL - ok, no more portraits of 'people', but how about my babies ????? Trigona carbonaria, one of the native stingless bees - bloody small, but I love em

Moment of takeoff


Taking out the trash

[the foto fanatic]

Aww - bring back the puppies!

[Bindii]

What people????

and bloody hell Rel (oooh I'm a poet and didn't know it!).. these are top class.. fantastic... unreal... the detail is simply superb... the colours are spot on... sheesh when are starting to shoot for National Geographic girl...

Yeah I kinda like em..

[ewm3]

Awesome; I am so envious of people who can do this. I'm still trying to develop the skills to do close ups on staic objects! Any tips for Newbies?

[xerubus]

Great shots Rel.... cute little bugger....

[colin_12]

I like the first Rel.
Do you have a hive at home or were these out and about?
Regards Colin

[blacknstormy]

Thanks everyone Sorry I haven't been commentating on photos, or posting much - life is a bit hectic at the moment LOL

Any tips for Newbies?

I still consider myself a bit of a newbie !! All I can say is keep practising - I found that I 'got used' to my camera and lens - that's the hardest part. You start to know what settings that suit your 'kind' of photography - look at several photos of one kind of insect, and each one will have a slightly different take on the subject... you just have to work out what kind of take you want Read heaps and look at heaps of photos, and try to figure out in your head how they would have taken the shot - what kind of lighting does it look like they've used, what dof.

A technique a lot of people use is to get an insect from the garden, and do some 'staged' photography. Take the insect inside, put it on a twig in a 'studio' kind of setup where you can control the light implicity, and don't have wind and other things to contend with, and then play. Some people also put the insect in the fridge for a short period - it serves to slow the insect down and allow you to take more time to get your shot (I DON'T do that ), but some people swear by it - just don't leave it in there too long, or you end up with a photo of a dead bug You'll start to get a feel for what you are doing, and then go outside and play some more.

One of the biggest things that I find a lot of people do is complain that their macro isn't 'clean' or is slightly blurred- and it turns out that they are just using too slow a shutter speed. One other thing I do is use flash - it doesn't have to overpower, but it definitely helps.

There are heaps of fantastic macro photographers in here (I'm not), so ask heaps of questions, and most of all POST your shots - then people can see what you are actually doing and help with what you've got.... actually, no, most of all HAVE FUN

I like the first Rel.
Do you have a hive at home or were these out and about?
Regards Colin

Hey Colin - I have a hive I'm really lucky, I can just crawl under my front stairs (that's where they live) and take shots until the cows come home, or the sun goes down Native bees are a fantastic thing to watch, so if you ever have the chance to get a hive, jump at the chance .... fantastic