The response was so positive to my recently posted photos of a bee on a lavender plant that I decided to post a couple more of my favorite images from that session. Unlike my previous shots that attempted to capture a bee in flight, these ones were taken while the bee was busily working. The light was starting to fade, so both of these were shot with my pop-up flash and I am happy that the flash did not totally blow out the highlights.
Using flash is an area that I have not paid much attention to, but it looks like it’s worth spending some time learning more about it and experimenting with different ways of adding additional light to my photos.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
I think the first one is particularly good. Using flash for this type of photography is something i have yet to figure out, it seems to be very useful
It’s a little bit hit or miss to try to use the pop-up flash like this. Most of the folks I have talked with suggest using an off camera flash so that you can direct the light better. Light can me a huge issue when you get closer and closer to a subject with a macro lens and a little bit of flash can open up the shadows and reveal details sometimes.
Now that’s how you focus on a bee! 😀
The flash did its job in these photos. They’re beautiful.
Just looking at these I wouldn’t have guessed it was the flash that made them so sharp. That first photo is also different from other bee pictures I’ve seen. In profile the little guy seems to show his unique personality in a way it (same bee?) doesn’t in the second photo, below. Beautiful!
Thanks. It’s not really the flash that makes them sharp, it’s more the focus. The flash may make it possible to shoot at a higher shutter speed and retain a decent amount of depth of field. I totally agree with you about the personality of the first bee. That perspective helped to make that shot a bit different from my other bee shots. I’m pretty sure the bee in the second shot was a different one.
woah that first photo is amazing!
Thanks. As you can probably guess, there is a lot of luck involved in getting a shot like that. It’s a lot of fun (and good practice) to try to time a shot and get the focus with this kind of moving sunject.