blue-banded bee and dragonfly portrait

[troypiggo]

Assortment of macros from this morning. Haven't been shooting much lately. Good to get out again.

[Octane]

Troy,

Wowzers. Each of them are crackers!

I don't think I've ever seen so much detail on an insect than in that third shot. Dang! What are those two brown things towards the middle of its head?

H

[astro_south]

Nice work Troy - great detail in all three. It was nice to get out again ... thanks for the coffee too :thumbsup:

[troypiggo]

Thanks Humayun - those brown things are eyes. They have the 2 big compound eyes that you see most of the time, but 3 smaller simple eyes in the middle there. You'd be surprised how many insects have them, just you usually only get to see the big compounds unless you're looking at them from mm away through the viewfinder of a camera with a macro lens ;)

Andrew - thanks and no worries mate.

[Dennis]

Lovely set of macro photos Troy – you haven’t lost your touch!

Cheers

Dennis

[lacad01]

Excellent details, great set :thumbsup:

[troypiggo]

Thanks Dennis and Adam :)

Keep in mind these were the best of the bunch, I took heaps of crap today :(

[jjjnettie]

Oh my very goodness!!
A superb collection of images Troy.

[RB]

Very nice macro work Troy.
Love the shallow DOF and colours.

:thumbsup:

[troypiggo]

Thanks Jeanette and Andrew :)

[telecasterguru]

Troy,

Sensational photos, was the dragonfly alive or dead when you imaged it?

Frank

[troypiggo]

Thanks Frank. Dragonfly was well alive. I went to shoot it at 3:1 magnification and nearly bumped it with my flash diffuser that close and it flew away :(

[bloodhound31]

The blue banded bee very much interests me mate. I saw one at my mums veggie patch and the other week I had one in my garden. I had lots of normal bees around but the blue banded moved differently to them in it's flower to flower movements.

Any idea if the blue banded bees live and work differently than any other bee?

Very nice photography coming from you mate. I like 'em all.

Baz.

[troypiggo]

G'day Baz,

Yes, the blue-bandeds are a solitary bee, as opposed to the communal honey-making bees. You sometimes see them asleep clamped on a twig/stem like this (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UsoHalCnOu4/R9TJHZ3lw6I/AAAAAAAABCo/nuB3-H-pQ3A/s1600-h/Amegilla+cingulata+blue+banded+bee+ showing+mandible+grip+%C2%A9Anna+Ta mbour.jpg). And because of their different movements, I understand they're very efficient pollinators of plants. There's a great Wikipedia page on them.

[iceman]

Wow, incredible detail and sharpness, and the colour (especially of the first one) is amazing.

Beautiful shots. Every time I see stuff like this, it makes me want to start doing macro work!

[StephenM]

Great Blue-banded bee image Troy! How did you convince it to stay still for you?

Cheers,
Stephen