Im finding handheld macro photography hard, and am wondering if the first photo is out of focus? I think pic two and three are in focus, but like the comp of the first pic..

The first one maybe a touch but they're all fantastic, especially the last one. Great job with the capture.Peteo

For most subjects with eye's, you usually want to have an eye in focus. People naturally look at the eyes.I the first pic the eye is a bit OOF.

Just a tad oof, unfortunately!I like it best though. You can cheat a little and sharpen the eye (locally only). If you don't want to show it too large, it's close enough imho. Keep practicing (I am practicing too, i seem to be keeping about 30% focusing manually with the 200mm...)Maybe try stopping down even more despite the diffraction and the ISO increase?dane dawgwrote:Im finding handheld macro photography hard, and am wondering if the first photo is out of focus? I think pic two and three are in focus, but like the comp of the first pic..

You do not get a lot of DOF at f10 with such a small distance.

dane dawgwrote:Im finding handheld macro photography hard, and am wondering if the first photo is out of focus? I think pic two and three are in focus, but like the comp of the first pic..Parts are in focus - the further feeler, for example - but with such a narrow DOF you really needed the plane of focus a couple of mm closer. However, things are made worse because the bright yellow of the pollen is clipped; and once a channel is clipped it loses detail.With this sort of shot, that includes blocks of strong single colours, it's important to look at the RGB histogram. Typically you'll need something like -1EV to keep the channels under control. This in turn lets you stop down (for the same shutter speed) so you get a more useful DOF.

Hi,The plane of focus is on the back side of the head and abdomen of the bee in the first shot. Increase your f-stop to f16 and shoot multiple frames at a time. Always focus on the eyes. For really tight shots, an off camera flash with diffuser can help with lighting too. Your second and third shots are very nice with the focal plane catching the eyes and pollen baskets..........................Jim

Thank you all for the tips. A flash and diffuser where used , but next time ill try f16 and -1ev to stop highlight clipping.. cheers Travis.. --http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/danedawg...http://www.flickr.com/photos/danedawg/

When I'm shooting bees on flowers in full sunlight like that and having issues with stopping motion or getting really sharp focus, I generally don't even worry about an off-camera flash. I simply pop up the built-in flash and it works like a charm (I'm using the Pentax F2.8 WR 100mm).I agree macros should be shot at the highest F-stop possible to still get decent lighting. And I don't really think 1/500th is necessary for bees like that; 1/250th would probably do the trick. Of course if you pop up the flash, you'll be shooting at a maximum of 1/180th by default, and trust me, in full daylight like that, you WON'T even notice a flash was used -- expecially just that little pop-up flash. Using flash under overcast or dim conditions is another story. For that, I have a Panasonic ring light that gives continual lighting so the camera meters properly. It DOES block the AF-assist light, however, so if you have a good external flash that has a "spot-beam" only mode (like my Metz AF 58II does), you may have to mount it and set it to SB mode to assist with focusing.I've been meaning to post a review on here on this ring light. I like it better than the ring flash I bought, which was NOT working TTL like it was supposed to. The ring light can be turned on just one side or the other or both, and is well below $100. JeffZablotwrote:Hi,The plane of focus is on the back side of the head and abdomen of the bee in the first shot. Increase your f-stop to f16 and shoot multiple frames at a time. Always focus on the eyes. For really tight shots, an off camera flash with diffuser can help with lighting too. Your second and third shots are very nice with the focal plane catching the eyes and pollen baskets..........................Jim