I like the colors in this one. Looks like the dragonfly and the rock were cut from the same elemental cloth. Or something. The textures are a little weird and it didn’t really entirely reflect what I saw – or, better, the feeling looking at the photo isn’t exactly what I felt when I saw it with my face-camera.
Odd that. Normally, it’s pretty close – the feeling that gets regenerated when I see a shot. Usually quite parallel. Hmmmmmm… Something to ponder.
Probably my fondest wish for the site – that you feel what I do (or at least something similar) when I shoot (and see the shots again).
Be grateful today, please, irrespective of where you live. The world seems to be in flux right now, but there are so many wonderful things – including the ability to share and access things like these photos (as an example). An incredible time in human history!
And while this has absolutely NOTHING to do with pollinators, it’s a blossom of its own kind…and seems appropriate today.
I think this is a Painted Lady. It’s really a terrible picture (light, background, composition, etc.), but there’s so much to be said for carrying on. No choice, really, until it becomes impossible. Still not yet impossible for this one…and I really like that. My site, my likes. Hope you take something from it, too.
Saw this one just after the rain stopped today. It held still long enough for me to click several times. I really like the effect on the flower. Beautiful!
Seems like a heavy dragonfly year – or I’m getting lucky with them. Here’s one on a larkspur. Those have recently started going nuts. Even to the point of occluding that one blanket flower that the bees love so. Might be time to do a little unarranging there. This one sat up nicely for me…and I like the detail on the wings.
Took the dogs to the river yesterday in the late afternoon. So many, many, many butterflies, bees, and dragonflies. Had the wrong camera with me – but I think it turned out well.
Took the dogs home, swapped cameras, and went back… But was a little late. The butterflies had nestled in for the night and the light had changed. Enjoy this one, though:
Here are a couple from yesterday. Very, very, very windy and this one had taken shelter fairly deep and behind some culinary sage. A bit arty, but so was the contortion of the photographer – tho not nearly as interesting or beautiful. Hope you like these two.
This one is a little too grainy to be a bee of the day. But I’m so taken by the shot – the bee – and the flower. First, look at those pollen buckets. So so full. Then her face – eye and mandibles. Then her belly. Then finally her posture – how she’s hanging by one leg. Sometimes they get a little stuck. She thrashed for a minute, finally turned around, put up another leg and pulled herself up – got free and flew to the next flower.
Was shot at 8:30 a.m. – before the sun crested the mountain, so not much light. When I shoot bees, I shoot in Pentax’ TAV mode. That means that I control the shutter speed (1/640 in this case) and the aperture (f/5.6 in this case) and let the camera determine the ISO. And, in this case because the light was so low/absent, it jumped to 3200. With the K-3, anything above 800 ISO gets too grainy for my tastes – especially on a tight crop like this pic.
That said, when shooting moving subjects, the ability to control both the shutter speed and aperture (all other things equal) is a great technique. If your camera doesn’t have that TAV setting, you may be able to go into Manual Mode (M on most cameras) and specify automatic ISO – effectively giving you the same thing.
A pollinator for sure. And that geranium is almost chewed away courtesy of the grasshoppers. Really good shot of the fly, too. Notice how its markings mimic the bees and wasps. Great adaptation – keeps the predators wary.
