Bee in Flight - First one I've managed.

IPClark

This is much harder than many realise. For some reason, if using flash, I get a weird result from anything that's flying. Even those tantalising hover flies that hover there perfectly still on your AF point and dart off JUST as you're about to press the shutter button.

Anyway, managed to get this "BiF" today. Almost.... but no Cigar. Still, no harm in posting it

1/400th @ F4.5, ISO 100. Natural light

Lord Vetinari

Very good BIF for a natural light shot. You may find with flash the TTL preflash is startling them. You could try some with manual flash.
Brian V.

IPClark

Thanks Brian.

TTL Pre-Flash? Ok, maybe I'm being a little silly here. I don't recall seeing a pre-flash. I'm using my 430 EX II in ETTL mode generally + or - some fec with the camera shooting in manual focus. ETTL is enabled in the custom menus but I don't recall seeing any pre-flashes.

Any thoughts?

Again, apologies if I'm missing something here

GOLDENORFE

good question, most people say that doli flys react to pre flash and turn away as the shutter is pressed. the pre-flash measures the subject distance i think.
i use the 430 and very rarely have noticed them react to it.
the flash is too fast for human eyes to notice, and i have never had a problem with it shooting bees in flight.
try manual as Brian mentioned , maybe half power first see if makes a difference.

Lord Vetinari

Ian in TTL mode the flash does a low power preflash - The camera uses this to work out how much flash to use in the actual shot. The preflash is not really noticeble when you are behind the camera but if the bug is a bit flash sensitive there is time enough for it to react before the main flash goes off. I've had quite a few shots of flies and butterflies feet from this. Not really noticed bees being that sensitive.
The preflash can cause problems with multiple strobe setups with flash triggers. The other strobes can go off with the preflash rather than the main flash.

Brian V.

IPClark

Cheers Brian, and Phil.

Appreciate the help here. Will certainly try out Manual too.

Icebear

Gosh, that's pretty good dof for f4.5 isn't it?

IPClark

Do you mean there's more DoF than you would expect from F4.5?

The level of DoF will be down to the magnification level I was at. I think it was around 1:2 so DoF would be deeper even at F4.5 as opposed to 1:1 at the same aperture.

Icebear

Yes. Guess I should have been less vague than "good." The right hand antenna is starting to blur, but most of the rest of the critter is in reasonably good focus.

You did a heck of a job capturing that girl. Takes me a moment to find a house in the vf, much less a flying bee .

IPClark

hehe, thanks

Must admit at first I was disappointed. Mainly due to it facing the opposite way but I am actually rather pleased with it . The use of 4.5 was down to my wanting to speed up shutter without increasing the ISO and also without using flash.