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The first time I shot a bee was back in 2008. Back then I was shooting with a D40, a 50mm f/1.8s, along with a few extension rings. I remember walking into that little garden by the river like it was yesterday, and seeing all of the bees buzzing to and fro from one cosmo to another. It was like a dream meandering the paths of that little river-side garden. Something inside me wanted to capture photos of them, and that's where this hobby of mine began.
Since that time so much has changed in terms of technology. We now have full frame sensors that can capture action at 1/80000. That is insane action stopping speed. Sadly, there's no flash out there that can keep up with such speed (at least not commercially available or mass produced). Why is flash important? Because it is what freezes bees wings in motion.
What I am about to explain below is the technique I developed after we returned to North America, around 2010. I tinkered around for a few months with how to increase the odds of capturing bees mid-flight. I tried using the spray and pray approach, but that quickly killed the batteries in my flash. I tried different extension tubes, different micro lenses (those are macro lenses in the Nikon world), and even tried a variety of flashes. Big studio lights are too cumbersome to be practical with these guys.
One day it hit me. The answer was right in front of me the entire time. A macro lens has markings for different reproduction ratios. Those reproduction ratios focus at given distances away from the lens. That led me down the path of concocting a small secret tool that upped my capture rate by quite a bit.
That secret was a stick with markings on it. The markings quickly showed me where the 1:2 and the 1:1 settings of my lens were in focus.
It really is as simple of pre-setting your macro lens to 1:2 or 1:1, setting your ISO between 100-800, and using a wireless flash that is at least capable of 1/20000 t.1 time at 1/128 power. Sync speed isn't a big deal. You can photograph these little guys at 1/160 or 1/250. It's the flash doing all of the heavy lifting.
What I also do, and this is the part that many don't is I also use a stick. Yes, you read that correctly. I attach what amounts to a stick to my camera. The little stick has markings on it that tell me where 1:2 is in focus and 1:1 is in focus. That's how I'm able to capture more in focus images than just winging it or using the viewfinder.
That's it. It's that simple.
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