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

Some More Bugs

More bugs from my yard.

Large milkweed bug on milkweed. Focus stack of 8 images.

Great spangled fritillary

A better shot of a bicolored striped sweat bee (previous post)

Orchard orbweaver. This is the underside of the spider. Focus stack of 2 images.

Bumble bee on a purple coneflower. Focus stack of 9 images.

Orchard orbweaver (Same species, different individual. This one was along the road in the ravine near my house. Also the underside). Combo of two photos: One of the spider and one of the shadow.

Condylostylus patibulatus. Neither the Seek app nor Wikipedia gave a common name for this long-legged fly. Focus stack of 6 images.

I need more magnification! This is the uncropped shot of the long-legged fly. I can crop the photo or zoom in to make the bug bigger, but the details don't look good because relatively few pixels are devoted to the bug.

Recent Insects

Thanks to the Missing Gardener, there are insects around the house. Most are on butterfly weed, and the last two are on lovage. The honey bees offer excellent flipbook action.

sweat bee

bumble bee

honey bee

leafcutter bee

ladybug

Unknown. Possibly a "plant bug."