Making a Difference

 I have been busy with my camera recently which has been nice after a bit of a break and this weekend I have shot 1300 images. Initially for the star trails (see previous post) and then at the Rhyl Air Show and it was my intention to share a few images from the air show today but I realised I still have a few good shots from Sizergh to post and while I will come back to them after I have posted some shots of planes I decided to first go for these bees.

The reason for this choice is because today we gave my grandson a book that was written and illustrated by my very talented niece, all about a bee who felt unimportant. It is a little reminder that just like the bee we are all important and have something to give, we can all make a difference in our own unique way.

Plus I really liked the bold colours and the fine detail in these shots which have a really summery feel. 

Foraging

 

I may have gone a little overboard today posting 6 pictures of 5 different bees but hopefully they will bring a little sunshine into your day.

As I mentioned yesterday the early spring blooms combined with the sunshine certainly brought out the bees so I had some fun trying to capture some sharp images. I shot these at 1/1250s using my 100mm macro lens. A fast shutter speed was necessary to freeze the motion of the bee in flight (pic 4) where its wing almost looks like it is crafted from glass. In that image and the last one too you can see the pollen sacs beginning to fill up.

Although the bees in the other pictures appear settled on flowers they were actually constantly on the move so again the fast shutter speed was essential.

Using a macro lens also allowed me to capture lots of detail, in particular I wanted o look at the difference in their eyes. If you look at the bumble bee in the first shot his eyes are smooth, as if they have a hard black shell, I wonder how it is actually formed and what the bee can see.

In contrast the black bee in picture 5 and the honey bees in the other images all have compound eyes, if you look closely you can see they are made up of a concave array of hexagonal cells. I wonder whether this has advantages over the smooth eye of the bumble bee?

What I only spotted when I started to process these images was that the right eye of the first honey bee on the bright yellow flowers is actually damaged, it has been pushed inwards, leaving a shield shaped indentation. Perhaps he has flown into some obstacle, I am sure it must have an impact on his vision, after all, imagine what it would be like if you got hit in the eye with a big stick!!!