How the sausage is made at 1000mm, 1/25 sec, f36, ISO 1400

Firespike feeds the Honeybees too
I like to combine different pieces of lens gear just to see what can be achieved. Unfortunately, there are many more
failures than satisfying results. This photo I like very much!

I don’t think of this as macro, but more closeup photography. Normally I use a bellows which allows infinite adjustment of the distance from the back of the lens to the sensor, but is best suited for still life shots of flowers, and a subject distance in inches. Since my new favorite closeup lens is the 200-500mm with a 2x converter, physically and electronically the bellows is not an option, so in this case I tried extension tubes. At 1000 mm the lens alone will focus to ~10’, with the extension tubes it is about 7’, so just a little gain in subject distance.

With this setup, everything has to come together at once, proper focus, which I find to be incredibly difficult, sufficient light, and subject/photographer preoccupation are prime. A major flaw is vignetting in the corners, but cropping takes care of that. No hand held, tripod mounted as the rig is 24” and 10+ lbs. Luckily the bee was drinking deeply and didn’t move, just long enough. This is the same position I shoot all my birdbath photos, through two panes of glass from my family room!

Hope to share more soon!