It’s amazing the things that show up in my photos that I did not notice when taking the shot, like this little beetle in the center of a striking lily that I photographed recently in the garden of my dear friend and neighbor Cindy Dyer. Cindy likes to call them “bonus bugs.” According to our rules, any bugs that you see when capturing a shot don’t “count” towards a bonus.
I do not have enough information to identify the insect. At first I thought it might be a cucumber beetle, but the pattern does not quite match the ones I have seen before. Cindy suggested that it might possibly be a carpet beetle. I also checked out a lot of different types of scarab beetles, but eventually decided that I was ok with not knowing the identity of the bonus bug.
I have included the second photo as a bonus. My original purpose in photographing the lily was to capture its beauty and unusual coloration and the second shot accomplished that goal. I carefully focused on the stamens (and particularly the anthers) and allowed the rest of the flower to fall out of focus. If I had not looked at the first photos, I might not have noticed the fuzzy shape of the bonus bug in the second image, but it is definitely there.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Ah yes serendipity in photography, hidden within. I love the little bug hidden in the lily…a poetic moment.
“A poetic moment…” That works on so many levels, Suzette. How often do we miss seeing the very things that are right in front of us? In our Instagram-driven world, people are not used to focusing their attention on something for more than a split second and they made instantaneous decisions based on first impressions. That is the basis for so many dating apps, it seems. What if we slowed down and lingered for longer, exploring more deeply what we see and feel? How many more bonuses might we find, already there, just waiting to be discovered? A poetic moment indeed. Thanks.
I absolutely agree with slowing down allowing the cycles of nature to influence life’s pattern and thought. Well said Mike. Thank you.
I just published some photos that also fall under the ‘bonus act’. Always fun to find a hidden surprise 😃😃, though I think small hidden critters like yours should be a two pointer.
Those of us who photograph living, moving creatures are used to focusing only on our primary subjects, so it is no surprise that other thinks creep into the frame. I am always amazed when I see videos of landscape photographers, who carefully compose each image, meticulously scrutinizing each part of the frame.
Pretty hybrid daylily. I wonder if that is a kind of leaf chafer?
Thanks, Eliza. I had to look up “leaf chafer” and after looking at a lot of photos, that needs to go on the list of bugs that the one in the photo might be.
Love the lily, its bonus and the expression. Thinking back at an image with bonus bug, the latest was an aerial shot of our boat in a lagoon. Two bugs had photobombed my shot: a hammerhead shark and a turtle! No fuzziness about them either but definitely unsuspected.
Yikes. Photobombing takes on new and greater significance when it includes a shark.