Eeny Meeny Miny Mo!

This close-up was made at an ‘Open Garden’ day put on by a member of my camera club at her rather large semi-rural property ‘Torwood’ at Wauchope , NSW, Australia, in early Spring 2006.

She told us that 98% of all plants were Australian Natives. To the joy of all who were there, most of the small plants, shrubs and trees were in flower and the air was filled with the sights and sounds of honeyeater birds and lots and lots of ….. BEES! :)

This bee is a European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) and the flowering bush is a member of Protea (Leucospermum sp) family. Neither specimen here is a native to Australia as the Protea is from South Africa, one of the few exotics growing in the grounds.

The early morning sunlight was just perfect as it lit up the little scene and made the dewdrops gleam.

A Port Macquarie Panthers Camera Club friend was nearby shooting bees with his literally thousands of dollars worth of Canon DSLR camera, macro lens and synchronised strobe flash so he was able to walk around the bush making heaps of shots on motor drive.

To come home with a good ‘bee’ shot with my camera I had to attack the problem from a different angle.

Mr Fuji was sitting high on his Tripod, baring his lens to the breeze, being stripped of his UV Filter and Adapter assembly for the close-up.
The camera was set to Macro Mode, Spot Metering and Centre Focussing on Standard Colour Setting.

I went fully manual for this shot as I can only use the 1/2000sec Shutter Speed in Manual Mode and from previous experience I used the f/3.1 Aperture even though the light was quite strong. This has to be done with the S5500 as if I try using a smaller aperture the result is way too dark.

The Fuji’s flash will not work on shutter speeds faster than 1/1000sec so any shots I make over that speed have to be in good light.

I then pre-focussed on the side of the main flower, framed the shot by moving the camera around on the tripod head and tightened the tripod clamps, all the while holding the shutter button down halfway and … waited!

Sure enough, a very busy bee flew right up to the flower, hovered only momentarily and ZAP!, I squeezed the shutter button all the way and here it is!

Visit the Insects & Spiders and Garden Flowers collection in my BubbleSite Gallery for more six legged critters and home grown flroal delights.

UPDATE: 25-8-09
This busy li’l Bee was the WINNER in the “A Vision Of Flight Group’s *Busy Bees Challenge.

Enjoy!

GARDEN FLOWERS and HYMENOPTERA

HYMENOPTERA
(Click the links!)

Leucospermum – Protea & Apis mellifera