Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Simply Beeing

Upon returning home from a nice, cool morning walk, we were surveying our front garden with some satisfaction because it happens to be looking pretty good. There is abundant echinacea, some daisies, some yellow coneflowers, and more. There are also various pots here and there, and they are looking grand.

We spotted a bee buzzing, so when Sue grabbed her phone, I realized that my camera was just inside the house near the door with macro lens already attached, so I made a bee-line for it.

The bee had moved, but we did find it again in another section of echinacea. We both took photos. I haven't seen Sue's yet, but these two of mine are satisfactory. They are not super close, but I can't get too close with my macro lens. Still, the bee in the photos is as large as it is in reality, so that's not bad.



Overnight, I began to wonder if I could catch a bee in flight. I would pre-focus the camera and bee ready if they either alighted or disembarked. Yeah, that didn't work although I did capture a few blurs. Even at 1250 seconds, whatever photos I got, and there were precious few, were extremely blurry. Some of the blur could have been due to a very narrow depth of field of a macro lens, but really, they bee fast fast fast.

Since we are all gathered together, I will append two non-flight photos from that second shoot: the first because there are two bees for the price of one, the second because that little cutie appears to be looking right at the camera.




17 comments:

  1. Beautiful, outstanding photos, dear friend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I do like macros of flower with insects!

    It may seem strange though that I (as a biologist) am not really fond of insects generally. Many (ant especially) I find “creepy” even though I am appreciate them scientifically (from a distance :) ).

    I also appreciated your many “bee puns”.

    PipeTobacco

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great captures of the bee. The setting is lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great title for this post, AC, and great macros too. I am rather envious as I no longer have a dedicated macro lens even though the phone and a point and shoot camerea boast on having one, it's not the same.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is a nicely captured. The colour is rich as well

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful captures!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Five star photo. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Two bees or not two bees, that is the question.....

    Great photos.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bees in flight are hard to get unless you have a burst mode. I use that too. But you end up with a ton of throw away shots. Try your longer lens. I generally use my long lens to catch the bees or birds like that so I don't disturb them.
    Never the less...what you got are beautiful. I'm still shooting bees and birds in this warm weather. They are truly abundant and active right now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Edit...you had the perfect lens for this. 90mm is an awesome lens!

      Delete
  10. Love seeing these industrious gals, their labors provide my delicious sweetness in my coffee each morning (or their cousins.) I was just tasting my honey this morning and wondering at how much it tastes the same all over the world (with of course some flavor nuances that are now beyond my old taste buds.) But back to photography...the fuchsia echinacea sets off the bees colors so well.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gorgeous! Catching insects in flight is a challenge, especially bees.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Outstanding photos!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nicely done! I think my hands shake too much for great photos!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well done. It's like I'm there, leaning in close.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love that last one. You can see her little bee dy eyes.

    ReplyDelete