Your opinion? Springtime not far - Bees

[Chavezshutter]

Hello!

These bees were shot in my front garden. It is slowly beginning to warm up in Australia. Not too many bees about, many flowers are still to begin blooming except for my daisies which attracted a few bees.

I'm trying something different and leaving the images almost undedited. No cropping, no sharpening, no noise reduction. Let me know which you like and I will edit that first.

 

[nataliaflejszar&Photo]

Hi Chavezshutter
I love the flowers ah your winter looks like summer here
For me nice, natural pictures

 

[Chavezshutter]

nataliaflejszar&Photo Thank you!

 

[Yohanna_D]

Really beautiful series of this bee and its flower; indeed we can feel the spring through these photos.
however what I would change in order to make these photos more poetical would be the angle of shooting - not from above but from the same level as the insect.
But I know you wanted to capture both the flower - entirely - and the bee and the only way is to shoot from above; but you can try to shoot from a different angle even though you wouldn't have both the flower and the insect.
The colors and sharpness are great!

 

[Jack]

Hi Chavezshutter . Here in London, aren’t many places for shooting macro too. Regarding your images, I will definitely keep first photo. Looks nice natural light, and decent details. I think after editing, the photo will be outstanding .

 

[Helix_2648]

I agree to Jack and Yohanna_D. The first one is the best but a bit too bright. But all have a great potential but would need some post-processing.

 

[Chavezshutter]

Really beautiful series of this bee and its flower; indeed we can feel the spring through these photos.
however what I would change in order to make these photos more poetical would be the angle of shooting - not from above but from the same level as the insect.
But I know you wanted to capture both the flower - entirely - and the bee and the only way is to shoot from above; but you can try to shoot from a different angle even though you wouldn't have both the flower and the insect.
The colors and sharpness are great!

Yohanna_D Thank you very much!! Great advice on my shooting angle and I do agree that I may be shooting from too high up and being more level would make it more personal. Less of an outsider looking in and more of an inside observer.

Great comment, much appreciated!

Jack I can imagine it would be in a big city like that. Only thing I can suggest and something that has helped me during this lockdown junk is abstract macro. Drops, bubble(s), smoke, common household items, not everyone's cup of tea but like they say "roll with the punches"

First photo it is. I had already chosen it and edited one for IG but I will dial it back and post it here..hmm might try Helix_2648 's LAB sharpening technique and report it back on his guide..

Thanks once again!!

 

[Chavezshutter]

I agree to Jack and Yohanna_D. The first one is the best but a bit too bright. But all have a great potential but would need some post-processing.

Helix_2648

Thank you!! When I posted all 4 pictures I considered mentioning that the daisy in the first picture has a different/lighter colour variation. It is almost the same as the others but with a more pale pink/purple.

I will take a photo tomorrow and post it here, as it's a little dark here at 5pm right now and maybe that will show the colour variation better than me trying to explain it.

Sometimes these variations in nature are hard to explain to the viewer. For example the center of all these daisies is incredibly vibrant almost too vibrant in real life so they look almost over edited in photos.

I will keep and eye on the exposure when I edit nonetheless and make sure I expose both the bee and flower correctly so thank you very much for your comment

Cheers!

 

[Chavezshutter]

Helix_2648

This is what I was trying to explain...



As you can see, they range from strong purple to almost white. Cloudy day today. Edited bee shot to follow...

 

[Chavezshutter]

Here is my edited bee shot. I've controlled the exposure on the bee, flower and background individually. Seems to have worked better to balance them all .Let me know your thoughts:



I have used Helix_2648 's LAB sharpening technique which worked very well. I will leave a review and sample comparisons between LAB and LR sharpening, maybe add a normal PS sharpening comparison too later on. Thanks for the guide Helix!!! Very good result.