Macro Bee

A Bee settled on a Jasmine

I pulled out the macro lens a few days ago to try my hand at photographing live insects. It was interesting to say the least. I had been photographing flowers with the lens earlier and had the extension tubes on. I was lazy and didn't bother taking it out which made photographing insects a bit harder. 

More shots after the jump.

A Bee settled on a Jasmine

I first tried to pre-focus on a flower and wait for the Bees to settle on it. Half an hours wait without a single Bee landing on the flower was quite frustrating. Having got sick of waiting, I changed my approach and decided to move close to the Bees once they settled on a flower. Lighting was a bit more difficult as I had to hand hold the flash ( I didn't want on axis light so couldn't mount the flash on the camera itself).

A Bee settled on a Jasmine

This time I was able to ask my sister-in-law to help me out by holding the flash (she didn't seem to mind). I need to find a long term solution for this as it can become a bit of a problem. My options are getting a macro flash or looking for some sort of bracket to hold the flash.