Theme: Mason bee

Michael's post made me think of a shot I got recently in my back yard. When I looked at this image on my computer I realized that this was not a honey bee. I didn't know about other bee species, so I looked it up and found that this is a Mason bee. These little pollinators are so prolific that they can pollinate 60 times as many flowers as the honey bee. They are also solitary and each female makes her own nest, which includes the compartments made of mud which give this bee its name. It was quite an education, but it seems that these bees are kept by many owners of orchards and one species is known as the Orchard bee.

Topaz Impression

The colors demand attention, and your decision to mask the Impression effect of the bee and the foreground flowers adds to the appeal. I'd prefer to see the saturation of the background diminished a bit for less competition with the foreground, but that might just be a personal preference thing. The diagonals add a lot to the image.

Thanks for sharing what you learned about these bees. Hopefully they aren't threatened by the colony collapse that's affecting at least some honey bees.

Kerry, thanks for the entomology lesson. The bee and the foreground flowers are great. I'm with Dennis relative to the bg. To my eye it is a bit heavy and prominent.

Good point about the bg colors, here's a toned-down version. Thanks!

Very nice! I really like the translucent wings of the bee. My eye goes right to the bee, then to the bright yellow flowers. The slightly blurred bg repeats the lines and colors of the in focus part. A lovely image. I could go with either version.

I like the diagonals going through the image, and the repost with the toned down yellows works better for me. I like the side-lighting on the bee.