Foraging Bumblebee

[Steve Maxson]

This bumblebee is feeding on nectar from goldenrod flowers. The proboscis that you see extending into the flower is made up of several mouthparts that function together to allow the bee to lap up nectar. These bees forage on nectar and collect pollen to feed their young. They are very efficient pollinators (more so than honeybees) and are very beneficial insects. 40D, Canon 180mm macro + 1.4X, 1/60, f/8, ISO 400, macro twin lights, hand held, auto focus. I removed some flash-generated spectral highlights. Comments are welcome.

[Connie Mier]

What an interesting looking bee. A very beautiful close up, you framed it well to not allow the yellow to be overpowering.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Steve, very nice sharp details on the bee, I wish it had a little bit of yellow in the upper right corner framing the bee. Nice capture.

[Don Lacy]

Steve, I like the placement of the bee in the frame and you handled the yellows well.

[Julie Kenward]

Very nice, Steve and I love the interesting factoids you put with your images. I always wondered what they did with all that pollen besides move it from flower to flower!

As Mike said, it's too bad there isn't a little yellow in that upper right corner. If this were mine, I think I'd cut a bit off the top and right side to eliminate a little more of that negative space in the URC and bring the insect out even more into the ROT's position.

[Vida van der Walt]

Beautiful macro Steve. Love the head-on pose, detail, and colours. Such an interesting bee.:)

[Christopher Miller]

Very nice close up, Steve, with great details and sharpness. You handled the yellows perfectly.