Stuart Ord
November 2024 - Still bee-vering away
About the Image(s)
This was taken a couple of weeks ago. The weather is cool here, but some flowers are out and the bees are still looking for food. The good thing for photographers is that at this tempeerature they are quite slow, and I was able to get shots at my leisure.
OM-1, 14-150mm lens with 16mm extension tube (I think, the EXIF doesn't record the presence of an extension tube), 1/90sec, f5.5, ISO 1000
6 comments posted
Margaret West
I love the purple bee on the yellow flower. Complimentary colors always work! Like your comp. The bees eyes look sharp. He looks a bit fuzzy elsewhere. I don't know anything about extension tubes. Does that affect your focusing more than a macro lens (which is hard enough!) Overall a nice image. Posted: 11/10/2024 02:16:29
Thanks, Margaret. The light was such that I couldn't afford a smaller aperture, I too would have preferred more depth of field. Still, the result is worth the effort, I think.
Here's a quick "Extension tubes 101"
Extension tubes are a blast from the past, really. I had some with my first camera when I was in my teens, as macro lenses didn't exist and any extra lenses were way outside my pocket anyway. They are empty tubes which move the lens further away from the camera body. In modern cameras they have electrical connections to operate the diaphragm (aperture) and provide information to the camera's exposure system.
Being simple, they are fairly cheap. Usually you buy a set of tubes with different lengths, as how close they let the camera focus depends on the length of the extension.
They are also very light, which contrasts strongly with my 90mm macro lens which is rather heavy! So I have usually had a set in my "day bag" which usually only has the camera with 14-150mm lens attached. This lens works reasonably well with extension tubes. I say "had", as I've just bought a 30mm macro lens which is small and light, so it will probably displace the tubes.
Tubes can be used with a macro lens, and increase its maximum magnification. I found I could use 2 sets of tubes and a 1.6x tele extender with my 60mm macro lens, which took its maximum magnification of 1x up to about 3x.
If you had say a 50mm f2 lens and added 50mm of extension, you would get 1:1 magnification with the lens focussed on infinity, slightly more magnification if you used the lens focus ring. However tubes cause a loss of light, and so the lens would effectively be f4 maximum aperture.
Posted: 11/10/2024 14:27:37
Here's a quick "Extension tubes 101"
Extension tubes are a blast from the past, really. I had some with my first camera when I was in my teens, as macro lenses didn't exist and any extra lenses were way outside my pocket anyway. They are empty tubes which move the lens further away from the camera body. In modern cameras they have electrical connections to operate the diaphragm (aperture) and provide information to the camera's exposure system.
Being simple, they are fairly cheap. Usually you buy a set of tubes with different lengths, as how close they let the camera focus depends on the length of the extension.
They are also very light, which contrasts strongly with my 90mm macro lens which is rather heavy! So I have usually had a set in my "day bag" which usually only has the camera with 14-150mm lens attached. This lens works reasonably well with extension tubes. I say "had", as I've just bought a 30mm macro lens which is small and light, so it will probably displace the tubes.
Tubes can be used with a macro lens, and increase its maximum magnification. I found I could use 2 sets of tubes and a 1.6x tele extender with my 60mm macro lens, which took its maximum magnification of 1x up to about 3x.
If you had say a 50mm f2 lens and added 50mm of extension, you would get 1:1 magnification with the lens focussed on infinity, slightly more magnification if you used the lens focus ring. However tubes cause a loss of light, and so the lens would effectively be f4 maximum aperture.
Posted: 11/10/2024 14:27:37
I also like the color combination a lot. And I agree result is worth it - although if you wanted to print it out in larger scale might be a bit too blurry. Thanks for the 101 on extension tubes. Posted: 11/13/2024 21:54:55
Yes it is only suitable for fun, too blurry. I'm letting other things distract me from my macro at the moment. I'll try to find some more time for December's entry. Posted: 11/14/2024 07:58:34
love the colors of the bee and flower - all purple and yellow. looking closer if does look soft on the focus. it is hard to get a bee at all for a macro so this is a feat in itself. Posted: 11/20/2024 04:01:14
Very lovely image: sharp, great lighting, great detail. Nicely done! I don't find it to be soft, by the way. And sometimes soft works fine, so long as it isn't blurry. Posted: 11/20/2024 06:30:31