Sunflower Bees

[mbrager]

I was sorry the Assignment this month wasn't the letter B. Oh well. During the summer I grew some sunflowers in order to have some nice photos in the autumn. So that's now. These plants all died last week because of the snow storm. But I still got lots of macro photos (well, shot with a macro 100mm lens.) Enjoy:

1.



2.


3.


4.


5.

[Marko]

really like the variety in this set - well done. shots 1 and 4 are my faves here!

[asnow]

Cool set. I'm with Marko .. shots 1 and 4 are my faves

[Iguanasan]

Excellent. I love bee macros. 1 and 4 are, I agree, the best but 2 was so close. I wonder how it could have been better because it feels like it has such potential.

[mbrager]

Thanks for the comments. With #2, I struggled with the composition. I like the whole flower/bee part, but there is something compelling and distracting at the same time about the leaf and the back side of the flower. I was trying for a rule of thirds composition. The next photo in the sequence is much closer to the bee:



And the next one closer yet:



Perhaps this one is better:

[Marko]

I dig this second set as well - last shot wins that set for me.

[Iguanasan]

I'm torn. Maybe it's the voyeur in me but I like the heavily blurred foreground as it makes me feel like I'm sneaking a peek into his world. I really like #2 in the second set as it gets rid of the leaf and stem which, you are right, I find a bit distracting.