Shot the same day as my recent "At the Hive" series. The bee keeper lets an outdoor faucet drip so that the bees have a place to drink. Wasps also stop for a sip and the two actually play well together -and it's a good thing for the wasps. I took some shots of the area (not macro) just to show the setup but they don't really convey what's going on -I was pretty much surrounded by a small swarm of bees and wasps as they were coming and going to the watering hole. Never got stung, but I kept my movements slow and non threatening...
Disclaimer: Never, ever, attempt to shoot in an area that has a large quantity of wild bees or a hive. If shooting a commercial hive do it only with the bee keeper present -and if (s)he tells you to do something don't ask why, just do it. Also do not carry a cell phone -the bee keeper was attacked once when his cell phone rang. The bees don't like the radio signals that a cell phone produces (one of the things that may be responsible for the recent die off of bees in the States). The bee keeper had protective clothing on at the time -lucky...
All Canon gear: Xti (manual mode F8 to F16, 1/200, ISO 100) + MPE-65mm macro lens. MT-24EX with home made diffusers
. Really Right Stuff flash bracket. Life size to 5 times life size.
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I like this last image because it really shows how tightly packed the bees could get. At 5x the scene is only about 4mm wide and yet there are two bees in this shot...
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I'll post some more images from that shoot later
