Do your review your photos rapidly before you choose the ones to post or do you carefully and systematically evaluate them and only then select the best ones?
I am often in a hurry. Sometimes I will stop to work on a shot that I like before I have even reviewed the complete set of images. I generally don’t work up postings in advance and I’ll write up the posting and push the “Publish” button with out realizing that I may have unmined gold waiting to be discovered.
Only later, when I go through the entire set of shots do I realize that I have a better shot than the one I posted and realize I should have at least posted both of them. If the differences are only minor, I won’t do an additional posting, but sometimes, like today, I feel compelled to post a second image.
As was the case in yesterday’s posting, this is a shot of what I think is an Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica)—or possibly a bumblebee— on a Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). The angle and the lighting helped me capture a significant amount of the detail and texture of both the bee and the flower and the colors came through with a beautiful vibrancy. The bee was in an unusual position, which adds to the visual interest of the image.
This is one of my favorites of my recent images. You might think that this experience will teach me a lesson about the value of a full review before choosing images to process, but I suspect that this will happen again from time to time. I know my habits too well.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
You were right, Mike. These are just mind-blowing. I love the dots of pollen you can see all over this guy. Macro photography is definitely your gift!
It would have been too bad if this one ended up in the reject pile.
I’m glad that I don’t have the pressure that must come with posting every day. When it comes to photos I’m my own worst critic and I sometimes go back and re-shoot them if I’m not happy with them.
I miss a few days from time to time, but usually I try to put something up every day. I actually enjoy the writing aspect of my blog almost as much as the opportunity to display my photos. It serves as an outlet for diverse impulses. I’m still at a point where I will post what I like, even if some of the images are not necessarily my best.
Nice shot and your way of working sounds suspiciously familiar!
You can’t beat the detail,excellent shot I hate it when I try to edit/post pics when I’m tired, I tend to make a few mistakes..:-)
This is such a great shot, Mike!! How could you miss it? 😉
I simply stopped looking when I got to the other one and never got to it. Sometimes I shoot so many images that I don’t manage to review them all in a single session.
I’m not familiar with the American bees but our Xylocopa violacea have a very shiny black abdomen. Could it be a Bombus impatiens? Amelia
I do what you mentioned. I usually don’t care about it though in regards to posting over a second stringer. I guess if I was selling them on a regular basis I might care, but I just blog for the fun of it. I like the images of both bee positions. The post before was very nice also.
Wonderful macro shot 🙂 as for selecting my photos, I rarely post only one photograph, usually it’s a set of photos so it’s easier to choose.
Have a nice day!
That’s fantastic. It looks like it’s walking on spears. You really nailed this one.
As you know I tend to use a much slower process to create my posts. Yet despite going over my photos numerous times I still find ones later that rise to the top especially after processing. That makes deleting photos so much harder. I have resigned myself to doing the deepest purges after some time has passed and I’m less attached.
Now this is a real winner! An excellent macro shot that shows exactly what you want it to say.
As for your question of the day: I don’t think I get enough excellent shots to really be choosy. I use the best ones I have to tell the story and purge the rest to storage (just in case). But I rarely go back and look at a set of photos from a specific date or series unless there is something there that would amplify what I am trying to show. But we all have different approaches and that’s what makes these blogs interesting. Some shots are more action oriented, and some are more artistic. There is certainly a desire to show both, and an appreciation on the part of the audience!