Hovering Over the Stamen by stray_shooter

Hovering Over the Stamen

Invoking my best Marlin Perkins: "The honey bee, nature's most efficient pollinator, gazes at the center of the water lilly while hovering over the stamen, evaluating the likelihood of a bountiful supply of pollen. Suddenly, and with no awareness, she inadvertently wanders into the photographer's field of vision, providing the human with a prime opportunity for a rare moment in which the in-flight creature is captured on a Sony 61MP Exmor R BSI CMOS sensor and enhanced BIONZ X image processor. The photographer cries with glee, while the bee continues on, wondering what in the world is wrong with the annoying human. She contemplates flying into his shirt to apply the stinger, but thinks better of it and continues on, foraging for more pollen for the colony."

Better on black.
Fabulous capture! This reminds me of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting. If I squint my eyes real hard.
June 23rd, 2020  
I instantly thought of O'Keefe as well! @joysfocus
This is fabulous, Ron. It looks like it should be a large wall hanging.
June 23rd, 2020  
Your macro makes the bee larger than life! Fab capture.Where did you find water lilies?
June 23rd, 2020  
A stunning macro and gorgeous frame filler, love the detail and narrative!
June 23rd, 2020  
Fav!
June 23rd, 2020  
Superb clarity, tones and textures Ron, I'm warming towards the mark four may have to wait a little longer to get one, Fav:)
June 23rd, 2020  
what a stunning capture
June 23rd, 2020  
This is stunning. Love your narrative too. There is an exceptional photo on canvas site called ā€œcanvaspopā€ that does awesome work, this would make such a great piece!
June 23rd, 2020  
Perfect timing, what a great shot.
June 23rd, 2020  
Love it ...
June 23rd, 2020  
So Iā€™m not the only one who talks to myself while taking pictures? Love the texture in the petals.
June 23rd, 2020  
Great capture and well done on the comments
June 23rd, 2020  
Great macro
June 23rd, 2020  
Brilliant Ron. Love your work
June 23rd, 2020  
@joysfocus @taffy Thank you, ladies. I have to confess to having to look up Georgia O'Keeffe, but once I did the resemblance was clear to me. Thanks for the education!
June 24th, 2020  
@redy4et Thanks Elizabeth. I shot this at the SJC Mission, one of my favorite places to shoot. They've just recently reopened to the public.
June 24th, 2020  
@ludwigsdiana Thanks Diana. What may be surprising to you is this is actually not a macro shot, but rather a closely cropped shot taken with a 24 - 70mm zoom. I credit the great camera and lens!
June 24th, 2020  
@gardenfolk @koalagardens @onewing @pdulis Thanks so much to you all and for the favs. Much appreciated.
June 24th, 2020  
@pcoulson Thanks so much, Peter. Much credit goes to the mark iv and its amazing resolution. As a I mention above, this is not a macro, but a closely cropped shot taken using the 24-70mm Sony zoom lens. Maybe I'll post the wide shot to demonstrate how much got cropped out. FYI, they just dropped the price of the Riv by $300 here. That tells me that a new model might be on the way. :-)
June 24th, 2020  
@louannwarren Thanks for the heads up on canvaspop, Lou Ann. I might just do that. I've put a few shots on canvas and hung them, but it might be time to change things up some.
June 24th, 2020  
@gardencat Ha ha! Makes me think of the little kid playing a sport by himself and being his own broadcaster. Thanks for weighing in, Joanne. :-)
June 24th, 2020  
@bkbinthecity Thanks, Brian - especially for sticking with it through the narrative!
June 24th, 2020  
@mjmaven Thanks, Shirley. You might be surprised to learn that it's not a true macro. The wide version is about to be posted.
June 24th, 2020  
@lkr333 Thanks, Lewis. You've got me blushing!
June 24th, 2020  
@joysfocus @taffy @redy4et @ludwigsdiana @gardenfolk @pcoulson @koalagardens @louannwarren @onewing @pdulis @gardencat @bkbinthecity @mjmaven @lkr333 Due to the many comments regarding what many thought was a macro shot, I decided to upload the uncropped version of this photo for comparison's sake. It demonstrates how closely the photo was cropped, showing off how surprisingly well the resolution is maintained. I think I might have just sold @pcoulson on the mark four. ;-)

Uncropped version: https://365project.org/stray_shooter/extras/2020-06-22
June 24th, 2020  
How long have you had the 7RIV? And! if you donā€™t mind me asking, are you still using Nikon glass or have you switched everything over to Sony?
June 24th, 2020  
Just Perfect! Nothing less than that!
August 2nd, 2020  
@gardencat Sorry, Joanne, I just noticed your comment/question. If it's not too late for you, I got the A7 RIV this past spring. I already had an RII, so already had some Sony lenses. I have an adapter and sometimes use my Nikon glass, but unfortunately the autofocus doesn't work on most of the lenses. Not a big deal, as I often manually focus, but the convenience (and quality) of the Sony lenses with autofocus cannot be discounted.
August 4th, 2020  
@Weezilou Thanks Louise!
August 4th, 2020  
@stray_shooter Thanks Ron. I got my A7RII a few years ago and was using it almost entirely with my Canon glass and a Metabones adapter. Auto focus was possible, if not ideal, with several of the old lenses but was not good at all with my 100-400mm. Finally the week after asking this question I bit the bullet, sold that Canon, and bought the Sony 100-400 G series. Still not sure if it was totally worth it . Having a functioning autofocus is great but there is something about the colours that came out of the old lens that seemed nicer than the new one. But, I guess I can play with colours in pp, but if I miss the shot no amount of pp will fix that!
August 4th, 2020  
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