David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Images of Bumble and Carpenter Bees taken in my backyard this afternoon with a macro lens. The Bumble Bees were working the fast fading Rhododendron flowers for any remaining pollen. The male Carpenter Bees appeared to be flying stationary guarding territory — only moving when challenged by another male. The down side of the Carpenter Bees is the large holes that they drill into the wood around the house for their nests.
Macro images taken in my back yard of a white wildflower, bee in a Rhododendron flower and a newly opened Maple leaf. After a brief afternoon rain storm, I went out with the same kit as yesterday. I like looking close with a macro lens, especially in the spring when flowers are blooming and the bees are active. I think the white flower is an invasive “Star of Bethlehem” (Ornithogalium umbellatum)
The first thing I noticed when I got home from the Semester at Sea Spring Enrichment Voyage to Central America and the Panama Canal was that the Rhododendorn’s in my yard were in bloom. To qualify, the only flowers were above level that the local deer couldn’t reach last winter. My sister told me that she had coupled a Nikon TC-E 20 II (2x) teleconverter with a 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens and has been getting some good macro images. I thought that I had previously tried coupling a teleconverter with the 105 macro and that it didn’t work, but decided to try again. It worked!!! In this case a Nikon TC-E 20 III (2x) teleconverter with a 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens.
I am going to need to do a test between the 105 mm f/2.8 VR macro lens with the 2x TC vs. the 200 mm f/4 macro lens.
I was afraid I was going to miss the Plum Tree in bloom this year. The tree took a lot of hits this winter and some significant cuts by the power company. I also got an image of a new maple leaf.
It is raining today. A couple of images from near the house taken with a Leica X1 camera. The first is some daffodils still in bloom (most are already done) and the other of wet holly leaves. In both cases these are the “out of the camera” jpg images.
