We have several lavender bushes planted in our front garden specifically to attract bees and help them in their fight for survival. These plants have been an absolute hive of activity (excuse the pun) recently so I decided to try and take some photos of the bees at work while the sun was shining this afternoon. I must admit I took something of a spray-gun approach to shooting them as they move so quickly – I set a shutter speed of 1/800th of a second, plus continuous focussing and continuous shooting modes and hoped for the best! Of the 165 or so shots I took these are by far the best – I deleted almost 100 immediately as they either contained no bees at all or only hopelessly out of focus ones. I was fascinated by the variety of bees I saw – I had no idea we had different types in our garden. Some were very furry all over, some had less hair on their faces and the smaller ones with orange bottoms had completely bald heads! They certainly didn’t seem bothered by my presence this afternoon, despite the fact I was only a few centimetres away from them most of the time. And to think all life on earth depends on these cute little creatures – keep up the good work!

WOW!!! agaga · 2010-07-22: 10:24

Great post! I love the clarity of the wings. HoosierAtHeART · 2010-07-22: 10:27

Fabulous shots of the furry fellahs. Lynda · 2010-07-22: 10:30

Great macro ... and the bees are definitely indispensable to us. blu06 · 2010-07-22: 10:32

This series is very beautiful and your very interesting explanatory text. Bravo and thank you for sharing josy63 · 2010-07-22: 10:33

lovely contrast with the lavendar, beautiful set urmysunshine · 2010-07-22: 10:37

Wonderful set! wildduck · 2010-07-22: 12:03

Well that makes me feel a lot better about my photos hearing about your experience , love the first . MoMac · 2010-07-22: 13:56

Great set Helen, so we did the same today. meanwhile I realized that shooting all these buzz buzz critters is much more relaxed if you use a long lens and crop a fake macro out of it. Also the range of sharpness is a bit wider than using a macro lens. So if you are lucky you can get 5 of 10 instead 5 of 100 although I have to admit it is still difficulty. GKorts · 2010-07-22: 14:32

Well done, fantastic captures mystic1 · 2010-07-22: 14:34

Excellent macros, Helen! So bright and with all details! Najeli · 2010-07-22: 16:31

Gorgeous shots, well done!! :) ????? · 2010-07-22: 16:43

Wonderful post! The heat is killing me....I thought it is Ted´s post and my coment was directed to him...then I wanted to have a look at your blog and wonder, how you two managed to cooperate so good...to post identical photos...then I start reading LOL It must be the heat:))) Eiram · 2010-07-22: 17:33

Good work indeed! salphotos · 2010-07-23: 02:19

Perfect shots! Definitely worth the missed shots! mymorningcoffee · 2010-07-23: 15:42

Great shots! sachiko · 2010-07-24: 09:22

Splendid set! Contesina · 2010-07-24: 12:38

Great macro set! Wasichseh · 2010-07-25: 14:59

no puedo decir otra cosa que... simplemente preciosas!!! sandraBDN · 2010-07-27: 10:10

Stunning macro shots! Ryana · 2010-07-29: 07:16

I particularly love the first one. alison · 2010-08-01: 12:42

What was your dof? Really fantastic job. The details are amazing. I can almost feel the fuzz on the bees and the wings are so precise. SunflowerGirl · 2010-08-03: 23:09

Tagged: bee insect macro lavender