Hovering Carpenter Bee

[NKP68]

Tricky little devils to capture. Back lit afternoon sun. Shot out of a second story window.
This bee would fly about 6 feet in front of me, hover for about 1 to 2 seconds then disapear out of sight, only to reapear when it felt like it. I manual focused all 60+ multi exposure images. This was a lot more difficult then I had thought it would be. Any suggestions on how I can improve my technique? C&C is also welcome.
Ed

[armando_m]

I'm impressed!!
A whole new meaning to BIF

I'll probably only crop a bit from the left and from the top

sorry no suggestions how to make it any easier

[Loupey]

The image is a bit too blown out (probably caused by auto exposure against a dark background) and noisy (probably a high crop). While I like the somewhat dreamy look of the wing motion, the amount of blur is too much for me. A slightly faster shutter speed might have at least frozen the head of the bee.

Not easy for sure. You did right by looking for a pattern to the flight and focusing manually. Shoot as close as possible (to crop as little as possible). If you are shooting with a zoom, track a flying subject at the wide setting and zoom in at the last possible second, refocus, and shoot.

The easiest method is to shoot a subject just as it approaches/leaves a food source.

[snoid]

A bee, hanging out 6ft away from you, two stories up?
How cool is that?
I know I would've tried for the shot.........
So, good effort.
If you can get him to come back, try a tripod and remote shutter trip.
Once you have an exposure, bracket around some and see what works.

[NKP68]

Thanks for looking, and thanks for the ideas. My intent here is to improve my capture ability of somewhat spur of the moment encounters with unpredictable subjects. I have to be able to follow the subject, frame, focus, and shoot in 1 to 2 seconds. Maybe my expectations are just too high but I want this to be as natural as I can get. So attempting to lure these guys somehow won't work for me. A tripod? I'm hanging half way out of the window and I need a bunch more mobility that that system can provide here. When it stops raining I'll try again, possibly with a flash and/or a higher ISO. The challenge is what floats my boat here. I just have to learn to overcome the obstacals that I can overcome.
Ed

[Loupey]

...Maybe my expectations are just too high but I want this to be as natural as I can get. So attempting to lure these guys somehow won't work for me. ...

Who said anything about luring them? They gotta eat too - go to where they go to eat.

Go to any park pond and you'll find loads of creatures flying around if you want more practice and more obstacles.