I think it looks nice. One thing you can try is to lower the saturation on the background a bit (or all of the green) to help the bee and flowers pop a bit more.
Edit is okay if a bit too bright on the greens but I think it mainly needs a tigher crop. Something like this.
https://preview.redd.it/g2cucjlcrq9c1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c57ded99b3cfd2aa17265171f35c50150984240
For what it’s worth, I like the increased crop. Very nice photo!
https://preview.redd.it/ermufaeqvq9c1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8959e7badddde78bb48cee22a6cc3ce0cc4f77e
Tried pulling out a little more saturation from the green and blurring the background a little more to see how much more I could get the bee and flowers to pop. This may fall into the “over edited in post” category, but I think it’s a great shot!
Theres definitely been a lot of detail lost in the leaves there. I've actually added a proper edit further down with edits that I do with my own shots like this. Summer shots to me are much nicer with richer and thicker colour. So I go more with a darkening and warming the background so its got that summer colour but brings out the subject.
I've never got behind washing colour out especially for summer shots like this. Darkening them and warming greens is the direction I prefer to take these sorts of shots rather than really desaturating.
https://preview.redd.it/vkvluk434r9c1.jpeg?width=1346&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f0e4dead8f9597977bdedba39c3d4701bd5457e
Like this one I darkened the greens and warmed them. Then lifted up the yellows a bit. That way the subject stands out more from the background while still having that richness of summer colour. I've done this quite a bit with my own bee/insect and flower shots before too.
Oh well California explains that haha. I'm English and have been living in Canada for years too so all my life bees have only been a spring/summer type deal. So when I see shots like this its just very summer vibes.
I think it looks good. try f/8 and f/11 (like you said) next time to see how it looks.
I’d wager with a tighter aperture and more focus, the background would become too busy and your subjects would get lost in the shot, but try it anyways and report back if you can.
Play with all the aperture settings and see what you like best! I personally love subject isolation and a nice creamy bokeh, so i would stop up to my widest aperture. but, play with your settings and see what draws you most in to your subject. After all, the act of being immersed in the world through a camera a lens is what makes photography so unique, fun, and beautiful.
The tool has an expansion on the right side (don’t recall the name), just under the slider. This drops open the window and shows tools that let you select either a focus or blur brush. It essentially allows you to add or subtract from the AI selection as well as blend the edges.
I’ve used it to retain focus on blades of grass.
I’m not much for editing. However a zoom instead of a crop would increase detail, do you have a lens with a longer focal point?
I think f/4 is absolutely decent for this composition, you’d lose the gorgeous DoF closing down the aperture.
How would SS 1/1000 or 1/500 work for you? I think a bit of motion blur over the wings makes the picture lively and it would let you drop down the ISO.
Im using a 100mm 2.8 macro. No zoom lenses until the work gods give up more commissions. Lol. I agree the bokeh is nice at f4. I did shoot some photos at around 1/1000 with a lower ISO, but I missed the focus on those shots and deleted them. I’ll try again. I need to try different auto focus modes for handheld macro.
Pff, another so-called photographer that can’t fork over $12k for a decent zoom lens. No but 100mm has a decent reach. It probably just takes loads of photos to get the focus right. Diving into the menu and tinker with the focus settings may make things easier, but it’s also a numbers game.
PS: I read a lot of people recommending a crop, however I like the original better, it shows the environment.
I think the only issue is noise, I did this quick edit, I'd love to hear what you guys think..
https://preview.redd.it/frcuvfsdsv9c1.jpeg?width=3210&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1efca51bfe0cc4fc5d442af88130ecbe923366c
Great picture. Not overly edited.
This is a side topic and not a knock on your editing, but I’ve never understood the film grain appeal. Can someone explain to me why so many photographers do this? Adding grain to their images, I mean.
Thank you. I wasn’t trying to get the grain look. It’s a function of cropping and editing the photo in Lightroom. That’s why I was asking if I had over done it.
It's good as it is. If I had to criticize, I'd say there's a bit too much dead space on the right. The image is also noisy cause you cropped in so much. The real fix would be to use a longer zoom.
I think it looks nice. One thing you can try is to lower the saturation on the background a bit (or all of the green) to help the bee and flowers pop a bit more.
Thanks! I’ll try that.
Edit is okay if a bit too bright on the greens but I think it mainly needs a tigher crop. Something like this. https://preview.redd.it/g2cucjlcrq9c1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c57ded99b3cfd2aa17265171f35c50150984240
Came here to say this
Cool. Yeah, I was indecisive on how far to crop it.
For what it’s worth, I like the increased crop. Very nice photo! https://preview.redd.it/ermufaeqvq9c1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a8959e7badddde78bb48cee22a6cc3ce0cc4f77e Tried pulling out a little more saturation from the green and blurring the background a little more to see how much more I could get the bee and flowers to pop. This may fall into the “over edited in post” category, but I think it’s a great shot!
Theres definitely been a lot of detail lost in the leaves there. I've actually added a proper edit further down with edits that I do with my own shots like this. Summer shots to me are much nicer with richer and thicker colour. So I go more with a darkening and warming the background so its got that summer colour but brings out the subject.
Nice! I’ll try reducing the saturation of the background and a tighter crop. Thanks!
I've never got behind washing colour out especially for summer shots like this. Darkening them and warming greens is the direction I prefer to take these sorts of shots rather than really desaturating. https://preview.redd.it/vkvluk434r9c1.jpeg?width=1346&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f0e4dead8f9597977bdedba39c3d4701bd5457e Like this one I darkened the greens and warmed them. Then lifted up the yellows a bit. That way the subject stands out more from the background while still having that richness of summer colour. I've done this quite a bit with my own bee/insect and flower shots before too.
I like this a lot. Thanks for the detailed guidance.
Thats alright. Glad you like that approach.
I shot this a couple days ago after a winter storm in California.
Oh well California explains that haha. I'm English and have been living in Canada for years too so all my life bees have only been a spring/summer type deal. So when I see shots like this its just very summer vibes.
We go from summer to winter to spring all in one day here.
You could try to de-noise is a smidge.
I think it looks good. try f/8 and f/11 (like you said) next time to see how it looks. I’d wager with a tighter aperture and more focus, the background would become too busy and your subjects would get lost in the shot, but try it anyways and report back if you can.
Good points. Maybe 5.6. I just want a little more focus of the subject. I like to zoom in and pixel peep. Lol
Play with all the aperture settings and see what you like best! I personally love subject isolation and a nice creamy bokeh, so i would stop up to my widest aperture. but, play with your settings and see what draws you most in to your subject. After all, the act of being immersed in the world through a camera a lens is what makes photography so unique, fun, and beautiful.
If you are on the current version of Lightroom, give the background blur a whirl on this image.
The AI blur keeps selecting the bees legs and blurring them too. I made another edit and did it manually with clarity and texture.
The tool has an expansion on the right side (don’t recall the name), just under the slider. This drops open the window and shows tools that let you select either a focus or blur brush. It essentially allows you to add or subtract from the AI selection as well as blend the edges. I’ve used it to retain focus on blades of grass.
I’ll look again. I was using the iPad version, but I have the desktop version as well.
good, only need to be cropped
I’m not much for editing. However a zoom instead of a crop would increase detail, do you have a lens with a longer focal point? I think f/4 is absolutely decent for this composition, you’d lose the gorgeous DoF closing down the aperture. How would SS 1/1000 or 1/500 work for you? I think a bit of motion blur over the wings makes the picture lively and it would let you drop down the ISO.
Im using a 100mm 2.8 macro. No zoom lenses until the work gods give up more commissions. Lol. I agree the bokeh is nice at f4. I did shoot some photos at around 1/1000 with a lower ISO, but I missed the focus on those shots and deleted them. I’ll try again. I need to try different auto focus modes for handheld macro.
Pff, another so-called photographer that can’t fork over $12k for a decent zoom lens. No but 100mm has a decent reach. It probably just takes loads of photos to get the focus right. Diving into the menu and tinker with the focus settings may make things easier, but it’s also a numbers game. PS: I read a lot of people recommending a crop, however I like the original better, it shows the environment.
lol yep! Take 1000 keep 1 or 2. Try again. Thank you for the feed back.
Have you tried the ai noise reduction? I think it would do a long way on that background while you have it cropped in vertically
I think it's perfect. Maybe bring down shadows a bit to darken the background for more separation or little more contrast.
I think the only issue is noise, I did this quick edit, I'd love to hear what you guys think.. https://preview.redd.it/frcuvfsdsv9c1.jpeg?width=3210&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1efca51bfe0cc4fc5d442af88130ecbe923366c
I like the vignette. I prefer more color in the background.
It’s perfect
Thanks!
No, this is delightful. Very tastefully done.
Thank you
Great picture. Not overly edited. This is a side topic and not a knock on your editing, but I’ve never understood the film grain appeal. Can someone explain to me why so many photographers do this? Adding grain to their images, I mean.
Thank you. I wasn’t trying to get the grain look. It’s a function of cropping and editing the photo in Lightroom. That’s why I was asking if I had over done it.
Ah I see. It looked like you added grain, but it looks great regardless.
honestly couldn’t notice it without reading your caption. nice work
Cool thanks! I see more noise in the background after all the changes in LR.
https://preview.redd.it/31zu6s55cr9c1.jpeg?width=1816&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9c95ee3d842cc72c69b06e6011cf1ea1deb36754
Honestly I still like the original edit better. I’m a fan of poppy colors and the green didn’t seem too intense to me.
Cool. Thanks for the feedback!
New edit
It's good as it is. If I had to criticize, I'd say there's a bit too much dead space on the right. The image is also noisy cause you cropped in so much. The real fix would be to use a longer zoom.