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Let’s take a look first at the original photo.

Now, what say we turn it into a famous painting, say one that Van Gogh would have painted.

Or perhaps one by Cezanne?

Then again we could always use Benson for some inspiration.

Then again we could always use more of an Aquarel water style to our photo.

I don’t know about you but I like the way I can turn this photo into virtual works of art. What’s that, you want to know how I did it? Well, like I said at the beginning of the post, all you need is a Mac computer and an app called AutoPainter Express. Just go to your App Store and type that into the search bar, and the best thing is it will only set you back $8.99. That’s what I love about the Mac, the apps are so realistically priced.

There is an app that gives you a whole lot of other different effects, like this one;

but I think I will leave that for another post.

Oh, before I go, which picture is your favourite?

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I still used a flower as the subject, only this time it was a white rose but the rose also had a member of the insect world present. Yep, there was a bee working the flowers in it’s search for honey. This is when I discovered that photographing insects isn’t as easy as when photographing s a static flower because these little blighters are constantly moving around. What makes it even more difficult was that I discovered I was having troubles focusing on it because I couldn’t stop from swaying.

That was when I wished I had a Davis & Sanford Vista Trailblazer Monopod. Actually any monopod would have done but that one sure sounds nice. Still there’s always a solution to every problem so why not this one? The obvious solution was to use my Manfrotto Tripod. So I extended the legs to the right height but I did not open them so that it in essence became a monopod.

Now, usually I like to take a photo and then check the LCD image to make sure it was focused properly. I found this to be too damn time consuming so instead I just took a whole heap of photos changing the focus ever so slightly, yes I used manual focus as the bee was moving to much for the auto focus to latch onto it. In this manner I was able to take several shots which I was very happy with.

All of these photos were taken with an aperture of F2.8. You can see that each one focuses on a particular part of the bee/rose. This first one shows the frailty of the bees wings. It’s truly a wonder of nature that these delicate wings can carry the weight of this insect and it’s load.

This next one brought the flower into focus as well as the bee’s abdomen. Notice also the clarity of the honey or pollen it’s collecting on it’s leg.

This one gets a nice clear shot of the bee’s head.

And finally I get really good and close to the subject. I really like the way this photo turned out.

Another thing I learned about taking macro photos of bees is that you really need a lot of patience because these guys just don’t like sitting still for you. I’ve yet to take a photo of one in flight, but don’t worry I’ll be sure to show you guys when I do.

One other thing about macro photography is that it introduces you to a whole new world. Take this bee for example, I didn’t realize how fascinating a creature it really was until taking these macro shots. They’re really quite remarkable, but then so are all of God’s creatures.

Books you may find interesting.

• Close-Up and Macro Photography

• The Art of Photographing Nature

• Digital Nature Photography: The Art and the Science

• Understanding Close-up Photography: Creative Close Encounters with or without a Macro Lens

The

Although you can do relatively good closeups I wasn’t entirely happy with them because I needed to get closer. After some research I decided the only way to do this was to invest in a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens.

You can only imagine my excitement when the lens came in, I was taking macro shots of almost everything. I did discover though that although the photos looked fine in the camera’s LCD display they weren’t as clear as I would have liked when viewed on the monitor.

Naturally I knew the lens wasn’t at fault, so it had to be something that I was doing that was the problem. As it turns out it all came down to I wasn’t holding the camera steady enough when taking the photos and I couldn’t get a fast enough shutter speed because of the low light level at the time to compensate for any camera movement. The answer of course was to use a tripod.

So, out comes the tripod and I managed a few more shots before I was called away. This is the best of those three.

One other think I noticed was the shallow depth of field which because of the depth of the flower I had to select which part I wanted to be in focus. As you can see you can even pick out the pollen that’s spread out over the petals.

Reckon I could still do better. Maybe what I need is to buy the Introduction to the Canon Rebel T2i / EOS 550D : Basic Controls Training DVD by Blue Crane Digital so that I can see how to get the best out of the camera.

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I’ve always thought that flowers make perfect subjects unless you try to take a photo on a windy day. If it’s a very bright day you could use a fast shutter speed to try an freeze out any movement in the plant, otherwise you may need a bit of patience while you wait for a lull in the breeze.

Oh, and just so you know, all these flowers, and the parsley, reside in my Mom’s garden. I’ve always said that she had a green thumb.

This one is of some small dainty like daises, again taken after a recent shower.

OK, I don’t really know what this next one is, but the petals are quite delicate and colorful.

Yeah, you got me on this one, it’s not a flower at all, but seeing as how I took it all on the same day I thought it only fitting I include it in the same post. This one is a photo of water drops on parsley leaves.

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