Posted in Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, bee, Canon 50D, chicory, Huntley Meadows Park, pollen, Tamron 180mm macro lens, white pollen on August 11, 2014| 17 Comments »
I usually think of pollen as being bright yellow, but this past weekend I observed a small multi-colored bee covered in white pollen from what appears to be a chicory flower. Who knew that pollen could have different colors?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged beetle, blister beetle, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, chicory, Maryland, McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area, Montgomery County on July 21, 2013| 6 Comments »
I was out yesterday on a trip to photograph sunflowers, but couldn’t resist capturing images of insects that my fellow photographers and I discovered, like this beetle—probably a blister beetle—on a chicory flower.
In many ways this image was part of an experiment for me. I was using a camera that is new to me, a used Canon 50D that I recently purchased, and this was my test run with it. The Canon 50D is several years old and is far from the bleeding edge of technology, it’s a considerable step up from my Canon Rebel XT. I also was trying to shoot macro-like photos with a telephoto zoom, because my macro lens has been acting up and is now on its way to Canon for repair. Finally, I jumped a couple of versions of Photoshop Elements and discovered today that the interface has changed considerably between versions 9 and 11, so it was interesting trying to work on this image.
Once I get the hang of my new camera and new software, I’m hoping to improve that you’ll be able to see some improvement in the quality of my images.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 