Three Bees

Bees are probably my favorite insect subjects, not least because the missing gardener's plantings attract them April through October. If butterflies were half as abundant I might have a different favorite.

This honey bee was part of a failed focus stack. I was going to delete all the shots, but I decided I like this one.

 

A few days after I bought the extension tubes, I was madly trying to get more detailed shots than I could get without them. I moved the camera too much as I was shooting, and the collection of shots did not have enough of this bumble bee in focus. I was going to delete the set, but the missing gardener's comment made me reconsider. A pollen-covered bee is pretty cool.

Focus stack of 2 images

Carpenter bees are my favorite bee, partly because they're large as bees go. Their green eyes and a yellowish patch (males) help give them something I recognize as a face.

As is well-known, bees are busy, so it can be difficult to take a good picture of a bee and even more difficult to get multiple shots for a good focus stack. However, bees are still before they get going in the morning. This eastern carpenter bee spent a chilly (60° or lower) night on a flower. In the morning, I was able to get plenty of shots for focus stacks, and I managed to control the camera's movement to get good focus front-to-back.

Focus stack of 12 images