Carpenter Bee
by Peter Cross
Today I was trying out extension tubes with my 70-200 lens to see if I could make it into a macro lens. I think it worked ok. Extension tubes are way cheaper than a new lens. What I have here is a male carpenter bee. This guy is the 747 of bees. He's over an inch long and looks just plain huge. Females are a dark shiny black but the males are this golden furred beast. Reminds one of a huge bumble bee. I thought this came out okay. Composition could be better with the left wing not cut off and some extra canvas somewhere would make this work better. I did chop off some to the right as there was a metal stake there. Suggestions would be really appreciated.
Tech info
Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f/4L at 200mm
32mm Kenko extension tube
1/160th at f/14 at ISO 800
handheld
Comments
2 commentsYep I think this turn out okay for a macro rig. The eyes are really nice and sharp and you have a reasonably good DOF. I agree with your self critique about the left wing. If you have angled slightly to the left, you would probably have avoided the metal stake and captured the whole right wing. The bright purple reflection in the bg is a little distracting and could be selectively toned down.
I find the combination of 300mm and 32mm extension works very nicely for critter shots.