Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day, but it was very breezy, which made it tough for me to get decent shots of bees in my neighbors’ garden. I am still going through my photos (and deleting a lot of them), but I was immediately drawn to this image of an Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica) on a Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea).
Although the dark background suggests the use of flash, I wasn’t using any flash and the shutter speed of 1/400 in the EXIF data is faster than the synch speed of my flash. I was trying to get as close to the bees as I could and the height of the coneflowers made it possible to get at eye level with the bee and get this head-on shot.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
That’s a great photo. I need to share this with my daughter (a photographer who loves bees).
Another photographer who loves bees? Definitely sounds like a kindred spirit.
Her bee album on Flickr is at – https://flic.kr/s/aHsjqpGCf6
Wow, Mike. This is your most beautiful macro shot so far this year. Just stunning!!
Thanks, Judy. If you liked that one, I suspect you will also enjoy today’s image.
Great shot Mike!
Love the amazing detail in your photo, you did such a marvelous job of balancing all the elements.
Thanks, Charlie. I was trying to frame the shot in the viewfinder and managed to get a composition I liked, which is not always possible with a moving subject.
Excellent shot Mike, another winner:-)
Thanks. At this time of the year, with everything in bloom and an abundance of insects, I rarely take the macro lens off of my camera. I love trying to capture really close-up images like this one.
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