<< Previous Next >>

Pollinisation


Pollinisation
Photo Information
Copyright: Francine Malo (NinaM) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 655 W: 0 N: 1623] (5300)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-08-05
Categories: Insects
Camera: Canon EOS350D/Digital Rebel XT, Canon 60mm EF-S Macro
Exposure: f/3.2, 1/320 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Blue Things [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2008-02-17 9:15
Viewed: 588
Points: 38
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
I am taking out from the archives a lot of macro shots I have taken during the summer of 2006. Last summer, I mainly photographed flowers.

This is a bumblebee on a thistle. During the month of August, the garden is filled with these busy insects and when you sit down to read, the air is filled with the sound of their wings... their wings? The buzzing sound comes in fact from the muscles that are used to fly. They come by the dozen, keeping busy on all the flowers they can find to collect the nectar, filling the hair on their back legs with gold: pollen. The pollen packs into small balls on their legs and so it is, the bumblebees fertilize the plants without knowing, life living once again through the passage of insects, birds or animals.

Here is an extract of a book called "Pollen: the hidden sexuality of flowers". It is the same series as a book I have mentioned in a previous post, which is about Seeds. It is published by Firefly Books in the US and Canada and in UK by Papadakis Pubisher in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It has fantastic pictures of pollen as seen through microscopes and it explains the sexuality of flowers like I have never read. They wanted this book to be a collaboration between scientists and artists. It's worth a look and the authors are Rob Kesseler andMadeline Harley. It's available through Amazon.

"Pollen grains are, without doubt, among the most beautiful microscopic structures in nature. They are tiny - perfect masterpieces of natural architecture and structural engineering - and often breathtakingly beautiful. Their range of forms is extraordinary and, in isolation from the plant that produced them, we can observe their individual characteristics and either know, or narrow down the possible species from which they may have originated.

The word "pollen" is Latin and means fine dust or flour; the use of the word in this context goes back to antiquity. Its first use as a scientific word to describe the male sperm carrying units of flowering plants is credited to Carl Linnaeus in 1747.

Most of us are aware of pollen, mainly because it may stain our clothes or, more annoyingly and frequently, cause miserable allergenic reactions (hayfever). These irritants have little to do with the real reasons for the existence of pollen. Not only are they very small, almost imperceptible to the human eye - apart from appearing as dust - they are, more importantly, the extraordinarily structured containers for carrying the sperm cells of two major plant groups: flowering plants (angiosperms) and conifers and their relatives.

If we look at pollen grains down a microscope we enter a fantastic world where, although small is beautiful, use far outweighs ornament. The appearance of the tough outer casing of the pollen grain, which encloses the sperm cells, shows an amazing range of variation between different species of plants. These variations are frequently elaborate, often exquisitely so, and they are referred to as "pollen types". There are thousands of pollen types. Usually a plant species produces pollen of only one type. However, there are not as many pollen types as there are species of plants, and some species share a very similar pollen type with another species; particularly species that are closeley related. Some pollen types are common to a number of plant families, and if the plant that produced the pollen is not to hand, it is difficult, even for an expert, to identify the plant that produced the pollen. Then there are families of plants, such as the grasses and bamboos, where the pollen is extraordinarily similar in all the species but, nevertheless, highly recognisable as grass pollen."

This is a fantastic world we are witnessing when watching a bumblebee on a plant.

Thank you!

Francine

Shot in jpeg, resized and cropped for TN
Adjustments made in Lightroom
ISO 400
Argus, gerbilratz, nglen, Heaven, eqshannon, jusninasirun, K9madtex, CeltickRanger, PaulH, warnzy, Bass has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes.
Add Critique [Critiquing Guidelines] 
Only registered TrekNature members may write critiques.
Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Heaven: EchinopsNinaM 1 02-19 08:07
To horia: Too many lenses!NinaM 1 02-19 08:04
You must be logged in to start a discussion.

Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2770 W: 151 N: 7984] (24857)
  • [2008-02-17 9:42]

Bonjour Francine,
Excellent frontal macro of a Bumblebee on a Globe Thistle flower with fine sharpness and detail of both the bumblebee and the flower and nicely composed against a bokeh BG.
Thanks for sharing this nice memory of summer,
Amicalement,
Ivan

Hello Francine
This is a lovely scene you have presented today...
I really like to dof where the Bee and the front part of the flower are in sharp focus and then blur away into a lovely BG..Perhaps I would have just removed the pink bloom just encroaching on the right hand side..That said..BRING ON SUMMER!!
Paul

Very nice macro, beautiful subtle colouration and a very fine composition. Nice POV and great DOF...a credit to you!!!

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2130 W: 9 N: 5960] (22528)
  • [2008-02-17 11:32]

Hi Francine a good close up of the bee on the flower. good detail and natural looking colours. a nice pOV/DOF. well done TFS. good notes too.
Nick..

  • Great 
  • lizzie Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 214 W: 0 N: 635] (2847)
  • [2008-02-17 12:22]

Bonjour Francine,

L'été, l'été quand arrivera-t-il? En tout cas, tu nous fait rêver avec cette belle macro! Jolie composition ou on peut apprécier avec beaucoup de netteté ce bourdon et j'aime bien l'avant plan de la fleur tout en focus pour ensuite se perdre un peu dans le background!. Bien fait!

Lise

Salut Francine!

Cette fleur est tellement belle que je voudrais presque la voir toute seule, sans l'abeille! Ce n'est pas que l'image ne serait pas belle avec, bien au contraire, elle est très réussie, mais c'est la fleur avec ces magnifiques étoiles et cette splendide couleur qui a attiré mon attention.

Félicitations pour cette réussite!

Amitiés

Markus

You have some VERY different looking thistle there than I have seen here..but whatever it is..it is my colour of blue...My mum used to call it Bobby Blue.. soft of like Wedgwood but not..and the insect is a plus...
Bobby blue

Hello Francine,

I like the perfect sphere of this thistle and the bumblebee is well placed at the edge against the contrasting blurry green background. To me, this composition is pleasant to see because the overall simplicity that it offers.

Very well done and best regards,
Jusni

Bonjour Francine,
Excellent DOF here with the beautiful flower and the fine captured of the bee!
very sharp with good colouration and details to enjoy
many thanks for the notes too
well done
merci
Tony

A nice shot from the archives. the flower looks like a burst from some fireworks. great focus on the bee and flower. DOF is spot on. Well done.

  • Great 
  • horia Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2138 W: 224 N: 3959] (13149)
  • [2008-02-18 1:49]
  • [+]

Hi again Francine

Wow! How many magnificent macro lenses do you have? :))
This is indeed a fantastic macro again!
I love the DOF feel on the flower and the great visual impact it brings!
The details on the bee are also terrific and the light made sure that the colors would look brilliant, too.
I'm glad to see that i was right: you really do have a talent for such photos! ;)

Bravo and TFS
Horia

bonjour Francine

superbe macrophoto de cette abeille,
excellent focus avec une excellente netteté
et détails du sujet et des fleurs, excellent POV
pour nous monter l'abeille de dos, TFS

Asbed

Bonour Francine,
Magnifique, superbe macro très nette et très belle composition avec des couleurs très naturelles.
Bravo
Marie

  • Great 
  • PaulH Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1068 W: 26 N: 3206] (11487)
  • [2008-02-19 2:19]

Salut Nina, your point of focus here has produced a really interesting effect. Super sharp and very well composed, the coluors are great too, well done. As always, your notes taught me a few things too, thanks you!
Paul

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2008-02-19 7:43]

Hello Francine

Once again lovely POV and DOF.
The globe thistle creates a lovely effect in this composition and ,akes a beautiful perch for the bee.
Excellent lighting and colours.
TFS

Rob

Hi Francine,

Lovely shot and glad you decided to pull it from your archive and shart it. Great detail and a very effective composition. The colours are superb and the pov perfect.

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1812 W: 29 N: 5246] (17188)
  • [2008-02-22 5:42]

Hi Francine,
Wonderful shot of the bee on this beautiful flower. Lovely colours and sharp details. The lighting and BG are perfect and I like the composition very much. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

  • Great 
  • Bass Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 101 W: 0 N: 115] (467)
  • [2008-03-13 7:42]

Hi Francine,
nice macro! I love the idea of a little bee over this flower, just to see how small are the parts of it. It´s a good comparison.
I like the deep you show over the flower.
For me, there is something pink, blur over the right side that maybe can be cutted.
TFS
have a nice day!
Brenda

Hello Francine,
Great focus colors and composition !
Well done
Regards

Calibration Check
















0123456789ABCDEF