Highlights from this video:
0:07 – I got stung!
0:43 – Camera of choice
1:32 – Shallow DOF, Auto-Shutter Speed
2:09 – Shallow DOF, Different Shutter Speeds
3:20 – Lesson Learned
While I was at my parents farm we found a beehive decided to photograph the bees – in an unusual way.
I decided to use my Point-and-Shoot; it’s a Mirrorless Fujifilm X-E2 Point and Shoot with 23mm wide angle lens.
I love this little camera! (I’m planning on doing a full review soon)
Camera of Choice – Fujifilm X-E2
I shot with a very shallow depth of field, shooting at F/1.4
I got in really close, but I’m going to show you a couple of ways to get the most out of photographing bees, which is normally quite difficult.
When you’re photographing bees, normally you’ll need a long lens on a SLR camera.
It’s pretty hard because they’re fast moving and they’re pretty small and hard to focus on.
But I’m going to show you a couple of techniques.
Straight on and flat on to the tree
Shallow DOF, Auto-Shutter Speed
So, with the Fuji camera, I turned the settings to auto-shutter speed and an F/1.4 aperture.
I went in really close to the bees as they were coming in and out of the dead tree.
It looked okay, but the problem was, I was photographing flat on to the tree (so it did not separate the bees from the background that much)
What I learned:
- Get as close as possible
- Use wide-open aperture (f 1.4) for a very shallow-depth-of-field
- Shooting straight onto the tree – the bees do NOT stand out from the background
- Auto shutter speed is not good – bees are blurry
1/100 sec
Shallow DOF, Different Shutter Speeds
The next thing I did was, I shot in at angle so the hole where the bees are going in-an-out-of is in focus and the rest of the tree is out of focus.
With the aperture still at F/1.4, I changed the shutter speed from auto-focus to 1/250 sec to 1/500 sec, and then I went to 1/1000 sec, 1/2000 sec, and 1/4000.
I was shooting at a high burst rate; shooting a lot of frames per second.
Some of the bees were in focus as they’re coming in to the hole.
1/500 sec
Lesson Learned
So that’s the lesson I have for you today.
You can photograph wild bees with a simple Point and Shoot camera with a wide angle lens and still get some incredible shots.
Just be careful with the bee stings!
- Use shallow depth of field (wide open aperture)
- Get in close (try not to get stung!)
- Use a super-fast shutter speed (faster than 1/500 sec) – to freeze the bees in mid-flight
- Shoot at an angle to the tree – so that bees stand out from the background
Photo Challenge – I dare you…
Now, the thing for you to do is to challenge yourself.
Go out there and photograph something that you’ve photographed before but with different equipment.
Limit yourself to ONE lens and ONE camera body and see how it goes.
Don’t forget to leave your questions and comments below. I’ll answer them personally. Brent
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Oh my God!! Brent the crazy dude!!! I was cringing the whole time watching this video especially after you got bitten. I can’t believe how well you recomposed yourself after being stung and how you still stayed there with those bees going nuts all around you. Who was the other crazy person filming? It can’t have been your brother as you said he was the guys rolling on the ground laughing.
Can’t believe how sharp the pictures you captured were, especially when the bees move so fast. Thanks for sharing your tips.
Yes my brother was filming after he got off the ground. Too funny! Brent
Very funny! You guys are a great team, through thick and thin..and bee stings 😉
Brent, I had to watch the first part a couple times…hilarious! Although, I’m sorry you had to suffer. So why didn’t the bees sting when you got even closer and put the camera up to the hole on the tree? Great shots!
It was funny! I don’t know why they didnt sting again – maybe they got used to me being there. Brent
I loved this segmant. That is a lovely little camera.. What would you pay for something like that?
I loved the ease of the setting of this camera.
I have a Canon 5D Mark III, which is fantastic. I am still trying to get my head around getting these settings manually. So complicated compared to my old film camera, Canon AV1.
Dean
It’s a great little camera – I think the kit I have (body X-E2 with the 23 f.14 lens) would be around the $2000 mark. You can get the body and kit lens for about $1300.
I also owen the Canon 5D mk III – love it! It’s in a different league to the mirrorless cameras and I use it to photography kids, families, models, landscapes and create videos for our upcoming landscape photography courses with Jay and Varina. Combined with the really great canon lenses – it’s really awesome (but big).
Thanks for the comments. Brent
Thank you Brent.
Thank you! This was really good! My favourite part was seeing the shots taken at different shutter speeds and being told what the shutter speed was for each picture as it was shown. I really GET it when I see it like that: here’s 1/100, here’s 1/250 etc.
But about the beestings: how about a long-sleeved shirt and a hat? It looks pretty hot where you are, but being hot for a few minutes compared to feeling the sting for a whole lot longer, I dunno — might be worth it!
Yeah Geraldine – I should have been more careful. Oh, well – too late now. Got some great images though. Brent
I only have an Android phone Camera. Any ideas for me?
Maybe get some protective clothing and get even closer? Can you change settings on your android camera – if so then you can still shoot the bees. Brent
Good video, Brent! As usual.
One thought: I would not call Fujifilm X-E2 as Point and Shoot camera. I think it is kind of different. Mirror-less does not mean point and shoot, as of my understanding.
You are right – it’s way more than a point-and-shoot, I love this little camera. Brent