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Thread: Bees pollinating Magnolia

  1. #1
    Saorsa's Avatar
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    Brian Grant

    Bees pollinating Magnolia

    It's that time of year again and a comment about carrying pollen in the insect thread made me decide to post this one.

    Our local bees actively collect pollen and carry it in sacs on their legs. This isn't a great bee picture but it does show the sacs well.

    Bees pollinating Magnolia

    The Magnolia blossom is large and has a central core with both stamens and pistils on a common stem. The stamens are at the bottom and look a bit like fuzzy matchsticks. The pistils are sticky and above the stamens.

    Here is a bee on approach to the core
    Bees pollinating Magnolia

    Once in there, they may fly around the top for a bit or go directly to work tearing the stamens off the plant.
    Bees pollinating Magnolia

    The shape of the flower in bloom creates nice little packing stations for other bees.
    Bees pollinating Magnolia

    And, just like birds, you get a lot of shots of bee butts.
    Bees pollinating Magnolia

  2. #2
    James G's Avatar
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    Re: Bees pollinating Magnolia

    Brian, thats a very sweet sequence of images. I have no success whatsoever capturing bees in flight. Whats the secret?

  3. #3
    rpcrowe's Avatar
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    Re: Bees pollinating Magnolia

    I increased the brightness and the structure of the bee as well as increasing the structure of the parts beneath the bee... I also cropped a bit off the left side of the image.
    Bees pollinating Magnolia

  4. #4
    Shadowman's Avatar
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    Re: Bees pollinating Magnolia

    Nice series.

  5. #5
    Saorsa's Avatar
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    Re: Bees pollinating Magnolia

    Quote Originally Posted by rpcrowe View Post
    I increased the brightness and the structure of the bee as well as increasing the structure of the parts beneath the bee... I also cropped a bit off the left side of the image.
    Bees pollinating Magnolia
    Thanks, those were pretty much SOOC jpegs cropped for resizing to 1024x768. I just went through a quick rejection pass after I took them and haven't really looked at doing much more with them.

    I posted them primarily to describe the behavior in response to a few comments in the 2016 insect thread.

  6. #6
    Saorsa's Avatar
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    Re: Bees pollinating Magnolia

    Quote Originally Posted by James G View Post
    Brian, thats a very sweet sequence of images. I have no success whatsoever capturing bees in flight. Whats the secret?
    Focus on where you think the bee will bee. Stop down as much as your sensor will allow, get close (bees aren't really aggressive unless you start swatting at them). Take lots and lots of shots and throw the bad ones away immediately.

    I do a quick rejection pass as soon as they are on my computer. That's the stage these are really at. In fact, with part of the bees face covered I probably would have thrown that one out but must have missed it. It does show the pollen sacs well though. It's actually called a corbicula

  7. #7
    Ziggy's Avatar
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    Re: Bees pollinating Magnolia

    Nice bee series.

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    IzzieK's Avatar
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    Re: Bees pollinating Magnolia

    Quote Originally Posted by James G View Post
    Brian, thats a very sweet sequence of images. I have no success whatsoever capturing bees in flight. Whats the secret?
    James, a few days ago Bill and I went to the zoo. When my shoot was over, he asked me to stay where I was and he will get the car and pick me up. He carried my gears for me -- to the car. I have never been so sorry in my entire life! because there are fat bees hovering around and as if teasing me, posing then flying away, hovered to the other two ladies seating two benches away from me, then came back to me and posing then shooting away. It happened many times before Bill came around and I told him what happened but we cannot go back to the car park anymore because we got someone tailing us and by then our area would have been taken...I think the bees knew I was annoyed at them... and showing me the many possibilities I could have kicked myself.

  9. #9
    James G's Avatar
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    Re: Bees pollinating Magnolia

    That's photography Izzie.... Soooo many lost chances

    Janet is pretty patient 'cos she'll be heading for a retail therapy session and I'll see something and want to stop " just for a moment!".
    But, the number of times I've seen the shot, and no camera ready to go!

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