u/Sacrificial_Sheep

Mainly a photo share but here is our backstory for those who are interested.

My husband is a Canadian beekeeper and we are very excited to harvest this season. We are getting a little burnt out as we are running over 30 hives. We both work full time jobs. I do Photography on the side. He runs a honey Business on the side. We definitely want to make beekeeping our main source of income at some point. We continue to slowly invest and grow, but at some point we won't have time to maintain the hives and work full time.

Curious for the people who only live off income from bees. How many hives do you have? Did you slowly transition into beekeeping or jump head first? Any wisdom would be appreciated.

We definitely love working at the hives. I am a macro photographer, so our working hobbies fit really well together. Plus my husband gets unlimited content for his business too.

Plus let me know what you think of the photos!

Shot on the Sony A7IV with the Sony 35mm f1.4 GM and the Sony 100mm f2.8 macro GM.

Mesmerized by the eyes of this fly.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter with a product box and tripod. 3 diffused lights. Stacked images.

So I don't no what normal people get from their partners, probably like flowers, or chocolates... My husband came home with a praying mantis. He helps me find new insects to photograph and today he found the one we have been searching really hard for. He found one at the mall. I have no idea how it got there, but he brought it home. After the these photos where taken it was released into my backyard.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter with 3 diffused lights and a tripod.

Found this young Cicada after it fell on my husband at our bee yard. This is my first time seeing one up close. Love the light greens they have after they emerge. Really easy to do stacks as it didn't move much unless I touched it. Release in my back yard and now I get to hear it every day.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter with a product box and 3 diffused lights. Stacked photos with Helicon Focus.

What amazing colours the background was providing! First shot I got my beekeeper husband to stand in the background to provided prospective. Love taking photos of honey bees.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro. 1/5000s, f8, ISO2000.

Got 2 stacks of this young red dragon fly. Took 2 hour for this one to sit still enough to get theses photos. The eyes are stunning. Zoomed in up close they kinda look like honeycomb!

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter with a product box and a tripod with 3 diffused lights. Stacked images.

There is a bonus bee on milkweed flower near the end, but had a great time in a lavender field that had just bloomed. People might have been watching 👀 me crawl on the ground taking photos of bugs, but I think it was worth it! Last photo is what the field looked like.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and natural light. All single shots. No focus stacks.

This was the biggest moth I had found so far. For reference it was almost as big as my hand. It was struggling to fly and move. It was near the end of its life and wasn't moving to much. Good Opertunity for stacks of such a magnificent creature.

This was one of my most challenging stacks as the antennas hairs are layered which makes stacking them very tedious. One image is over 500 images stacked together. This took over 6 hours for a single photo, and no it is not AI!

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter at 2.8 magnification. Shot in a product box with 3 diffused lights.

Always amazes me what you can find in your backyard! First three are live subjects, last 2 (sweat bee and horse fly) are deceased. (found deceased). Been practicing and learning every week. I've definitely been getting faster and better results with my stacks. I have been hunting for new subjects that I haven't captured before, but a lot just comes down to luck (if I can find them).

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter with a product box and using a tripod. Stacked shots using Helicon Focus.

Found a dead fly inside my house while I was doing some focus stacks of a moth. Though I would get some stacks since I was already setup.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter with a product box and tripod. Stacked photo. 2.8x magnification.

I am kinda obsessed with moths atm. They are all slightly unique it colour and I love that. Generally they also sit very still during the day so they are pretty easy to get focus stacks of. I see hundreds of different moths at my work, so I have been getting lots of different shots.

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Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro Lens and the 2x Teleconverter. Using a product box for lighting. Stacked images.

Love the eyes on this bug! Super nice deep reds. Had no idea about this bug till I found it and did a little research. Love the fact that I get to learn about the insects as I photograph them.

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Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro Lens and the 2x Teleconverter. Using a product box and a tripod. Stacked images. @2.8x magnification.

Spent some time shooting damsel flies this week. Beautiful little critters! Love how different each one's colours can be.

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Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter with background cards and a product box. Stacked photos.

Got lost in those eyes! Absolutely mesmerizing green damsel fly. Spent quite a few hours to get this shot, but I am happy I did. Nothing is worse then setting everything up and they fly away. Took about 12 attempts, I was pretty close to calling it quits and giving up.

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Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter. 100 images stacked. 2.8x magnification.

Found this little beetle crawling around my backyard. Beetles are definitely are one of the easier subjects for focus stacking. I guess most of them play dead when they are confronted with danger. Absolutely loved how the highlights on the shell have an iridescent shimer. I got many different results of what beetle this is on google, so if anybody can let me know what species this is, I would appreciate it!

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Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter. Using a tripod with a product box and background cards. Stacked Images.

Got this little one to stay still and get some focus stacks. Really took some patience. Jumping spiders get startled by almost any movement. Took over three hours to get these 5 shots.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter with the Amaran Ace 25 for a light source. Background card used, with tripod. 100 to 250 image stacks. (Some photos are with thr 2x Teleconverter and some aren't.)

Caught this June bug crawling through some flowers in my backyard. Common sight, but upclose you get to see details you can't usually see.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro. 100 image focus stack in a light box.

F2.8, 1/500s, iso 100 .... 100 image stack (for both photos)

You can feel his mood... he was not happy that I kept following him trying to take pictures! Turn that frown upside down.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro and the 2x Teleconverter with natural light. Stacked images.

Caught a female honey bee emerging from its cell. Always a fun moment watching them chew their way out. They generally always appear muted in colour as they are generally still wet and not fully developed yet.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro.

My husband is a beekeeper. he had to replace some queens in his hives. So that allowed me to spend some time to get these shots. These are all focus stacks.

Shot on the Sony A7IV with 100mm f2.8 GM Macro in a product box with three diffused lights.

Image 1: f2.8, iso100, 1/400s ... 100 images stacked

Image 2: f5.6, iso400, 1/160s 2x Teleconverter - 200 images

Image 3: f7.1, iso800, 1/160s 2x Teleconverter - 200 images

Image 4: f2.8, iso100, 1/400s ... 100 images stacked