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?
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
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
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.
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. And because of their different movements, I understand they're very efficient pollinators of plants. There's a great Wikipedia page on them.
