Bees are essential to our ecosystem, and to us continuing to eat. We deliberately avoid using pesticides or other products that might harm pollinators.
We have several different species of bee that visit our flowers. Some are big with a rumbly buzz, others quite small, but we're always happy to see them. It's so nice sitting out on the back patio in the warm weather, drinking something cold, enjoying the bees buzzing as they do their thing.
Many of the photos are taken on our mint plant, but the bees check out the roses, the red peony, and some of the other flowers. Oddly enough, I haven't seen them all over the dahlias yet. Enjoy.
From July 1
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July 5
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My buddy Leaha came over to get some advice on macro lenses and try out some of mine. Of course we had to put our words into practice!
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July 10
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July 17
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This one is actually Image of the Month for July.
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This sequence of three photos takes place at 2:22:53. There is a fourth photo taken at 2:22:54, and the bee is gone. My camera can shoot about 6 frames a second when I hold the shutter button down. So in that last photo as the bee has let go of the flower and is falling off the blossom, and then 1/6 of a second later it's out of frame. An eye blink is typically about 1/10 of a second. These were shot at 1/400 of a second, which is not a particularly fast shutter speed. And you wonder why I'm pleased whenever I get an in focus shot of a bee.
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July 20
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I'm sure this one was giving me the stink eye.
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July 25
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The weirdest image of the month. I'm not quite sure why it was so dark, when the ones right before and after it are properly exposed. Then I deliberately played with the sliders in Lightroom to emphasize the weirdness.
July 31
26. This is the most popular photo I've ever put onto Neil's Workshop Facebook group.
As a further technical note, almost all of these are shot with the 70-200 mm lens, usually with extension tubes. A few were shot with the 100 mm macro lens. Of course the images are cropped to varying degrees, depending on the actual sharpness of the image and the various artistic merits floating through my brain at the time.
I understand why #26 is so popular. Technically, a great capture, and an unusual composition. Don't get me wrong, I love bees on flowers but that one stands out as something a bit different. Incidentally, when it comes to bees, I think I prefer images that aren't quite so close up. Something about their beady eyes is a bit unsettling. I prefer to focus on their lovely fuzzy butts.
ReplyDeleteLove the first set with the red peony as well!
ReplyDeleteNicely done!
ReplyDelete