A bee feeding on a wild flower.

This photo was the last of several attempts to shoot a nice little macro scene: two bees of the same variety feeding on the same flowers, one in the foreground, the other nicely set back in an interesting background. Unfortunately, I could not quite get the focus right. As I fine-tuned it with each shot, finally getting close to the desired crispness, I also shifted the frame towards the right. It is not evident now, because I have cropped the photo, but the original has a lot of empty green space at the right, which puts the bee near the dead center of the photo. And “dead” is probably the most apt modifier, because it is not a very interesting composition in my mind. Fortunately, there were enough elements in harmony that I could crop to a better composition and still maintain a relatively high resolution. This examples highlights the physicality of shooting macro of free-living wildlife, which fittingly tests one in a compact, often small range of subtle movements, strengths, and flexibilities. The key of course is too keep your balance, breathe easy, and…stay composed.