Any suggestions/comments/advice - using S5500

I think you should had made a closer shot to pull out the bee in the focus and to havea more sharpness of bee.

Regards Zak

i agree.. get in close and don't shoot so straight on.. shoot the bee from an angle, like the side, to give him some 3-dimensional feel.. and get much, much closer!!

I agree... get closer... although...bee's scare the bejesus outta me, and they tend to not like to sit still while you get real close.

The color here is really nice. Once again, good exposure! The flower and the bee are your subject and I do find the leaves distracting. As everyone has suggested, you could try to get closer to isolate your subject or you could use a shallower depth of field and blur the leaves to put more emphasis on your subject. I would opt to get a little closer though....easier said than done sometimes...bees are soooo fast and don't sit still!!!! But it's very rewarding to finally get the shot you want!!

You need not fear getting closer to this insect because it's not a bee,but rather, a hoverfly :-)
Andrew

Thanks everyone, advice really appreciated. I'm having a difficulty getting really close up focus with my S5100 - I'm sure it is me doing something wrong since I am very new to the hobby. Advice/ instruction would be very helpful here since I just don't seem to get the same magnification as other posts I've seen.How closeshould I reasonably expect to be able to getto the subject with thecamera and stillacquire focus? I'm assuming its 10cm per the spec? I've followed the manual pretty closely in terms of macro mode, zoom inin auto & then switch to manual focus - but something is definitely still eluding me!!I'd really appreciate some help on this. Many thanks, Steve

what you can do is manual focus your camera down to its closest focusing distance.. and then move the camera itselfuntil it is in focus.. this will ensure that you are focusingat your closest focusing distance and thus are filling the frame with your subject as much as possible..


i am not really familiar with your camera, but are you shooting it at its wide angle or its telephoto end? the telephoto would most likely fill the frame the best, unless the closest focusing distance changes alot between it and its wide angle.. maybe someone else with this model can offer more insights into camera specific details..

also, for alot of digicams you can buy a special closeup accessory lens that will increase your magnification.. once again, i am not familiar with whats available for that particular model though..

The shot is fine I think, just not as remarkable as it could bee. All the ingrediants are there, lovely colors, striking shapes, most likely getting a bit closer to this little critter and with a sharp focus on it, might have upped the interest quotient. Best regards,

KennethD

Hi,

I have attached a pic that I took using my camera's "super" macro mode (S602 Zoom). It apparently allows for 1cm to 10cm focus distance. My camera really struggled to focus as the quoted distance and the light source was pretty good that day. I also read somewhere that if you clean all of the sensors on the front of the camera it helps - however doing this changed nothing.

Please note that I am not looking for criticism on this shot I know it is awful! Just to show Steve that his shot is not that bad!

Dom