Bee's

I used a rebel camera with a macro 100mm lens. I tried to shoot these bee's at a f32,f4,f3.5,shutter 1/1000,1/2000, and 1/640. I was about a foot away from the bee's. All photos were blury. It was a sunny day with the sun behind me.
Thanks

You mean like this?

Thanks for the laugh.

Peter

You should use a tripod to shoot macro. Handholding, unless it's with flash, is difficult. Also, very small apertures, like f/32, may give you less than sharp images because of diffraction. Large apertures, like f/3.5, will have very shallow depth of field so only a part of the subject will be in focus. Put your camera and lens on a tripod, set an aperture around f/16, make sure you're not closer than the lens' closest focusing distance, focus carefully manually, and see what you get then. Subject movement can still cause blurring, so make sure you're shutter speed is fast enough, and use a remote release.

Because your shutter speeds were adequate, you probably just missed the point of sharpest focus when you tripped the shutter. It takes practice and luck to move in on a moving subject and fire off a few frames at the right time. You might practice on a stationary subject until you find a comfortable way to self-brace your camera as you move in toward your subject. Using a tripod to go after a small, moving bee with a 100mm macro lens would be an exercise in frustration.

Could you post a photo? That would help us help you.

Thanks.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks.

What type of lens and f stop or shutter speed would you use to shoot bee's.

I wasn't necessarily recommending shooting bees using a tripod. Use a tripod with some stationary subject to get the hang of using your lens for macro. Macro lenses in the 100mm to 200mm would work for bees, especially the later which would give you the most working distance from the bee. Apertures of f/8 or smaller (I mentioned f/16 earlier) would give you enough depth of field. The shutter speed is going to depend on how good you are at hand holding and how much the subject moves, but at least 1/250 second to 1/500 second minimum depending on the focal length of the lens. You should look into flash with hand held macro using a flash bracket to hold the flash.

Given my usual interests, I'd probably use the Canon 180 macro. F-stop is going to vary but if I have to pick one, f11. ISO 100-400. Let the shutter speed fall where it will. Depending on how active the bee is and how large it is in the frame, you'll need a shutter speed between 1/30 sec and 1/500 sec for it to be sharp, although niether number is guaranteed and depends on the situation.

Bees are also large enough that I don't have to resort to hand holding like I do with the 65 mm MPE macro. Use a tripod - if you have found a spot with lots of bee activity, it shouldn't be too long before one comes withing range of the lens.

I'd consider going to manual focus as well, especially if the bee has landed. Autofocus tend to pick the wrong sensor at macro ranges - it usually locks on the closest point which may not be where you want it to be.

Okay, I am going to deny all knowledge of the events that led up to being reminding of this possibility...

Pick up your macro lens and hold it like it had a camera attached to it an you are going to take a shot. On the left side, just below the autofocus switch is a second switch with two settings: 0.48m - infinity and 1.5 m to infinity. Which one is it set to?

Also, is the camera set for manual focus when you thought it was actually on autofocus.

Again, I deny all knowledge of any real world reminders

Thanks to all.