POST YOUR BEE SHOTS (any non-butterfly all pollinators are welcome - wasps, etc.)

These Wasps have added a few more cells to the nest after the older, main nest was destroyed when the twig broke off.

Cheers

Dennis

Photo from nardes's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (1034462)

Bees on the move, with the scouts out looking for a hive.

Last summer, I spent ages trying to photograph of buzzy things. Specialised macro lens, different light sources, focus types, stackings, metering modes, etc. Was never happy.

Today, out for my lunch time walk and the sun was shinning. Unslung my EM5-2 and little kit lens when I saw this and took a photo. Settings were whatever they were when I last took a photo !! Pretty happy.

Dave Weldon wrote in post #19033659
Bees on the move, with the scouts out looking for a hive.

TheLaird wrote in post #19033795
Last summer, I spent ages trying to photograph of buzzy things. Specialised macro lens, different light sources, focus types, stackings, metering modes, etc. Was never happy.

Today, out for my lunch time walk and the sun was shinning. Unslung my EM5-2 and little kit lens when I saw this and took a photo. Settings were whatever they were when I last took a photo !! Pretty happy.

Excellent shots, Gents!

From the yard

Just after taking and processing this image, I returned to the nest to find that it had fallen to the ground - the twig had broken off at the next knuckle joint again - how sad.

I couldn't see the wasps anywhere, I assume they flew off to a safe place?

Cheers

Dennis

A male Blue Mason Bee getting ready to start his day. The males sleep in my Mason Bee house, in the cardboard tubes that I bought from Crown Bees, and the females don't seem to mind. I've also noticed this same behavior in the wild, with male Mason Bees sleeping in the cavities that they initially emerged from.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 1x) + a diffused MT-26EX RT (E-TTL metering with -1/3 FEC). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Sharpen AI, Denoise AI, and Clarity in that order.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2iJa​9fL

Photographing this mating pair of Sweat Bees was tricky cause they weren't sitting still.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC, second curtain sync). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Sharpen AI, Denoise AI, and Clarity in that order.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2iKd​83t

Dalantech wrote in post #19036716
Photographing this mating pair of Sweat Bees was tricky cause they weren't sitting still.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC, second curtain sync). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Sharpen AI, Denoise AI, and Clarity in that order.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2iKd​83t Mating Sweat Bees by John Kimbler, on Flickr

Wonderful catch John.

Lester Wareham wrote in post #19036754
Wonderful catch John.

Got lucky cause they only couple for a few seconds. When I first saw the male I though a small crab spider had him, then got surprised when I put my eye to the view finder and realized what I was looking at.

From my original posts “The Pollinators”

Photo from Shuttershare's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (859670)

Photo from Shuttershare's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (859710)

I've been trying to photograph Sweat Bees as they collect pollen from Sourgrass flowers but it hasn't been windy enough, so they can tell when I grab onto the flower's stem. Here's a shot of one leaving a flower after figuring out that I'm close.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (over 2x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC, second curtain sync). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Sharpen AI, Denoise AI, and Clarity in that order.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2iKu​faY

This guy was keeping an eye on me as I slowly racked the lens closer on the macro focusing rail.

I manged to take 3 shots with the AF point on different parts of the wasp and manually Aligned/Blended in PS CC due to waving of Antennae and feet between frames.

Cheers

Dennis

Another Sweat Bee in a Sourgrass Flower that knows I'm close.

Tech Specs: Canon 80D (F11, 1/250, ISO 100) + a Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens (3x) + a diffused MT-26EX-RT with a Kaiser adjustable flash shoe on the "A" head (the key), E-TTL metering, -1/3 FEC, second curtain sync). This is a single, uncropped, frame taken hand held. In post I used Topaz Sharpen AI, Denoise AI, and Clarity in that order.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/2iKT​hBu