Stalking bees in the garden
Those of you who know me will find it very odd that I actually attempted to get some shots of bees the other day. Even more shocking is that I went with my MP-E 65 instead of the 180L- which is what I normally use when stalking bees. The thing is, I am absolutely terrified of things with wings and stingers. However, I am beginning to warm up to bees and I have found that they generally don’t mind me taking their picture while they are busy gathering pollen.
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I photographed what I believe to be three different types of bees that day. All of them were gathering pollen and generally didn’t mind me. Sometimes when one got rather close I would winch a bit but in general they didn’t seem very annoyed with me. There were quite a few at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens and bees could be found on a wide variety of flowers. Though I spent most of my time taking pictures on purple alliums, I liked the shots of one that I found on a triangular yellow flower a bit more. Here is a shot of the flower, though I do not know what type it is.
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I would generally start at 1x, and then slowly go down to 2x as needed. I didn’t dare start out at the higher magnification as I was too worried that I would bump the bee. In general, I find myself becoming a bit less terrified of these every time I take a picture. Of course, I’m not sure I would try this with a hornet or one of the giant honeybees I saw in Asia. The next shot is one Nelya liked a lot.
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Here you can see the bee gathering pollen with its tongue. I’m rather proud of these shots and find it interesting how sometimes photographs bring a bit more than a pretty picture.
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Tags: bee, Bellevue Botanical Gardens, flower, insect, macro, photography, pollen
You should be proud they are all very well done, I really like the first one with the gaze of the bee right at the lens, neat shots !!
I too am terrified of everything with more than four legs, but find them much less so when I am behind a camera. Beautiful macro’s!
Don’t bother about the regular and lonely insects. If you don’t have any allergy to venom and they aren’t in a swarm, you’re safe most of the time. Though be careful where you step as I’ve got a pretty nasty experience with some swarms of ants. Last one was a month ago in an abandoned wooden house invaded by a huge swarm of red ants.
High Five . . . I know how much you love them bees!
Great shots. I like the one that shows the bee actually feeding the best too.
I’m outdoors a lot and usually get stung two or three times a year when I accidentally disturb a wasp I didn’t notice. I’ve never been stung while photographing a stinging insect — knock on wood — and with my equipment I must get really up close and personal.