Favourite Photo Friday - 29/8/14

Spring has sprung at the Camelid Castle. Despite still being officially Winter (and some very cold nights) the days have been beautiful and sunny.  Our blossom trees are out in full force.  They are also buzzing with bees. I love taking macros of bees on blossoms, so this week it's a few of my favourite bee photos I grabbed during the week. I'll post more blossom and bee pics soon but here are some crackers I got......

For anyone who has tried to get insect photos, it's not easy! Those bees move very fast, and they only stay still for a second at a time while collecting pollen.  I've gotten pretty good at chasing them around and getting the focus and exposure right, but it's still not easy to get great macros of them. I love  seeing the pollen collected on the legs, how delicate their wings are, and all the tiny hairs on their bodies. All the amazing things that you can't really appreciate with the naked eye!

D7000 with Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro

ISO 1000  focal length 90mm

Exposure: 1/640 @ f/18

D7000 with Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro

ISO 1000  focal length 90mm

Exposure: 1/2000 @ f/8.0

D7000 with Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro

ISO 1000  focal length 90mm

Exposure: 1/1000 @ f/8.0

D7000 with Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro

ISO 1000  focal length 90mm

Exposure: 1/1600 @ f/14.0

Spring has sprung........

After a few miserable weeks of weather here the last week of Winter proved to be glorious (only it seems to be totally outdone by the first week of Spring, which has been magical!).  Despite some yucky and not warm days it hadn't been that cold overnight for awhile so the garden was out in all it's Spring glory well and truly by the end of August.

I love the garden at this time of year. The bulbs are just starting to poke their heads up and brighten up all the previously empty beds and all the bare branches on the trees start to fill with flowers.

Here are a few pics taken in the last week of Winter from our yard........

The Crocus

The Daffodils and Jonquils

The Magnolias

The Manchurian Pear

The Cherry Blossom