# Hornets and bees



## BrentC (Sep 3, 2017)

Some early morning shot after the rain

1. Bald-faced hornet



Bald-faced Hornet by Brent Cameron, on Flickr

2.



Bald-faced Hornet by Brent Cameron, on Flickr

3. Wet bee



Bee - Early morning rain by Brent Cameron, on Flickr

4. Crane Fly



Crane Fly by Brent Cameron, on Flickr

5. Fly



Fly by Brent Cameron, on Flickr


----------



## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 3, 2017)

The water drops in #5 make that one extra special. You are much braver than I getting that close to the hornet!


----------



## BrentC (Sep 4, 2017)

Dean_Gretsch said:


> The water drops in #5 make that one extra special. You are much braver than I getting that close to the hornet!



Thanks Dean.   It was wet and very early morning so the hornet was pretty languid.


----------



## Dean_Gretsch (Sep 4, 2017)

See, that is when I'd be most irritable.


----------



## zombiesniper (Sep 4, 2017)

Great set.


----------



## jcdeboever (Sep 4, 2017)

Wonderful


----------



## baturn (Sep 4, 2017)

Very nice set!


----------



## Steven Dillon (Sep 4, 2017)

Brent,
Another vote for the fly from me, and I agree that the drop puts the image right over the top.  Very nice.


----------



## birdbonkers84 (Feb 9, 2018)

These are great!


----------



## Cortian (Feb 9, 2018)

BrentC said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> > The water drops in #5 make that one extra special. You are much braver than I getting that close to the hornet!
> ...


I was wondering about that 

They're all very nice.

I noticed you used flash on all of them. What kind of flash? I'm curious, as I just got my macro lens and I'm looking forward to spring/summer in our gardens. Trying to get a handle on the lens ahead of time.


----------



## BrentC (Feb 9, 2018)

birdbonkers84 said:


> These are great!





Cortian said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> > Dean_Gretsch said:
> ...



Thanks guys.   For these I used a simple setup with a  speedlight on camera with a diffuser.  I recently bought a flash bracket so I can have flash off camera and can't wait to try itout.   Here is the setup I used.


----------



## Cortian (Feb 9, 2018)

Thanks for the info, BrentC. I wonder if a diffuser quite that large is necessary?


----------



## BrentC (Feb 9, 2018)

Cortian said:


> Thanks for the info, BrentC. I wonder if a diffuser quite that large is necessary?




Its not that big a diffuser.  May look big on my M43 camera    But yes you could use a smaller diffuser.   I just bought a flash bracket and picked up a couple of smaller diffusers.   One of them is about 1/4 the size.   Have not had a chance to try it out yet.  I think what is important is how well it diffuses.

There is also a lot of sites that show you how to make your own diffuser with stuff around the house.


----------



## Cortian (Feb 9, 2018)

I don't even have a speedlight, yet   But that's next on the list. (Canon 430EX II.) Just put a couple small softbox diffusers in one of my shopping lists on Amazon. They're not expensive. Thanks for the info!


----------



## BrentC (Feb 9, 2018)

If you have on camera flash use that for now.


----------



## Cortian (Feb 9, 2018)

BrentC said:


> If you have on camera flash use that for now.


It's not an issue, yet. It's still wintertime here. Just got about 6" of new snow today. Very few bugs outside . (Well, live ones, anyway.)


----------



## 1of1snowflake (Feb 14, 2018)

Cortian said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> > If you have on camera flash use that for now.
> ...




Take pictures of snow!   It's a good macro subject!


----------



## Cortian (Feb 14, 2018)

I have some snow-ish macros I took.  Maybe I'll post some of 'em up tomorrow.  Thanks!


----------



## davholla (Feb 16, 2018)

Very nice, I wonder what the bee is carrying, it does not look like pollen to me.
What flash bracket did you buy?  Did it work?
Early morning is a great time in theory but in the UK in the summer, early is about 5am!


----------



## BrentC (Feb 18, 2018)

davholla said:


> Very nice, I wonder what the bee is carrying, it does not look like pollen to me.
> What flash bracket did you buy?  Did it work?
> Early morning is a great time in theory but in the UK in the summer, early is about 5am!



Yes it is pollen.   Can't remember the name of the bracket.   Haven't tried it yet but don't think its going to work out well.  It has a flexible arm bbut its pretty thick and not as maneuverable as I would like.  But I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes but my first impression is not for macro.
I hate early mornings myself, I'm a night owl, but I force myself to get up and its usually rewarding.


----------



## Jeff G (Mar 23, 2018)

4 and 5 are my favorites but they are all amazing!


----------



## otherprof (Mar 24, 2018)

BrentC said:


> Dean_Gretsch said:
> 
> 
> > The water drops in #5 make that one extra special. You are much braver than I getting that close to the hornet!
> ...


Great set. I guess the old saying,”as mad as a wet hornet” is just not true.


----------

