Bee By Deon Hamilton™

[yahgiggle]

Photo of a bee i took

 

[Overread40]

A few thoughts;


1) Not sure I like the composition; it feels bitty, as if there are good elements in there but pressed together and not really fitting. The left side hasn't really got anything to connect it with the right and the right is heavily detailed in comparison. I think it might actually work if it were portrait aspect and rotated to the left; so that you've then got the bee as a line from bum to head facing up into the flower. That gives you some direction; a flow to the view of the shot and works well with the fairly even sides of the shot. I'd crop a little off the side (if needed) once in portrait aspect just to put the bee fully central.

2) Lighting is very harsh and strong which suggests midday or around that time. It's given a good strong light that shows up detail, but also produces some very harsh shadowing and some blown highlights. This is sadly very evident around the flower head and bee head. You might find that lowing the contrast and saturation just a touch in that area might help smooth out the harsh light a little and give a softer level of colour and detailing to the area without making it soft and lacking for detail.
An issue with the time of shooting and not always one that can be easily countered (lighting setups can help but can also be more cumbersome and not as suited to this kind of photography unless you approach it with a lure based approach - ergo drawing the insect to the shooting area).

3) Shame the bee's head is down, but they are tricky to shoot when feeding as their heads get right down into the flower within moments and only come up to move to the next flower.


The main problem I see is the lighting - its harsh and whilst its given good colour and you've exposed well to preserve detail on the flower and not allowed it to blow out (over expose) its still giving a harsher edge to the subject and shot. Composition is a bit lacking, though as outlined above could be adjusted to give a better presentation.

 

[JTPhotography]

Hot mid day sun makes for boring photos, this is a good example.