The bees are swarming all over my xylosma shrubs which in early fall are covered with tiny greenish flowers. It’s nice to see so many bees here as they seemed to have almost disappeared in recent years. I tried two different lenses on the bees today with comparable settings. I took the first shot with my 28-300mm lens wide open (f/5.6), ISO 200, and with a fast shutter set at 1/1250. I used my 24-70mm lens wide open (f/2.8) also at 1/1250 and ISO 200. Both shots are cropped. I really like the first shot but sadly, it has an impaling merger that detracts while in the second shot the bee’s posture is not as interesting but the overall composition is better. I kept upping the shutter speed hoping to stop one in flight but I didn’t succeed and by the time I was at 1/5000, the bees all stayed in the shade so an inflight shot was impossible to capture with so little light. I did capture a nice shadow, though, on an in focus, although overexposed, leaf.
[Editor’s Note: I learned something about my lenses after reviewing (and posting) these shots. When I reviewed both of the original, unedited photos side by side I discovered that the bee image in both of the shots is almost identical in size even though the first was taken with a 300mm lens and the second with a 70mm lens. The 70mm lens allows me to focus more closely to my subject so I guess that is why but I was somehow surprised at this. I have so much to learn about photography.]
Original shot:
Original shot:
And, of course, the shadow shot:
Carol that is so beautiful!