How'd She Get that Shot? Photographing Honey Bees

Tripods are going to improve sharpness no matter what kind of equipment you're using. Unfortunately, with wildlife macros you don't always have the luxury of a subject that stays still. These tree frogs were (thankfully) very still and I could use a tripod to take pictures of them.

I was not so lucky with honey bees. They move within fractions of a second and it's next to impossible to focus properly since they move about on each individual flower. As with all wildlife photography, the most important part of the picture will be the subject's eyes. If they are in focus then everything else will be forgiven. With this in mind, it's VERY difficult to trust your camera's autofocus. Here are some rules of thumb for photographing subjects like wild bees(bees that are flying around in the wild, that is and not sitting in a petrie dish):

Try to take the bee pictures on a relatively sunny day. While you don't want harsh shadows that happen at high noon, try for mid-afternoon. You'll want to have the highest shutter speed possible so the more natural light you have the better. Since flashes won't synch with your shutter speed much past 1/400 you'll need to rely on reflectors and natural light.

Since bees move so quickly it's almost impossible to photograph them with a tripod (although if you're patient you can set your lens on a flower and wait for a bee to pop by). Because you're going to be hand-holding your lens, you'll want to make sure your shutter speed high enough. A rule of thumb is to set your shutter speed at least three times as fast as your lens length. If your lens length is 105mm then set your shutter speed to 1/400th of a second. If your lens length is 200mm, then you'll want to set your speed at 1/1000th of a second. The higher the better... without having too shallow of a depth of field.

You'll want your aperture at least at 5.6 or 8 to keep the eyes in focus.


Now, set your lens on manual focus. If you don't normally shoot manual focus, this is going to feel weird. Experiment and practice. You'll have better results if you track the moving subject, wait till it lands near or on the flower, turn your focus to ensure the eyes are perfectly sharp and "click".