Russian Sage

Ram:
I am really liking your flower and visitor shots. The slight curve of this flower and sweet bg make this image very appealing to look at. Like the addition of the bee with its blur wings as well. Are you sure the bee is not sticking its tongue out at you?

Excellent capture of the bee in flight. I like that you were able to get both the entire flower and bee sharp, while your point of view makes nice use of the attractive soft BG. Would have been nice to see more of the front of the bee, but these shots are difficult to get perfect.

Is this from your own yard, Ram? I pulled all of the Russian Sage from my garden a couple years ago. I liked it, but it was just too darn invasive and hard to control. Smells great though, even to people.

Scott, Yeah, its a bit of a hit and miss. Agree with your observation though. All that you see from the VF is a blackblob. We have Russian sage in our own yard but those are thinner than these ones and don't seem to attract Bees like the one I have shot does. This was shot at the local gardens.

Such great color and light and exquisite detail. And then it's a marvelous moment captured with the bee giving a little extra. Was the 7.1 a choice or a bracket?

Morris, Frankly I was not expecting to capture the Bee. F/7.1 was a conscious choice - magnification was not too high and a higher F-Stop was not needed - I am a bit stingy when it comes to using narrower apertures. There is a great deal of satisfaction in pulling off shots at the widest affordable apertures. I simply had to shoot aligning myself to the plane of the flower. I got three frames with the Bee, one was a total blur. Of the 2 sharper ones, the position of this one looked the best.

Ram,

Oh my goodness, the detail is striking even at this small web size. Very nicely placed against a complimentary bg - in fact, I love the echoing yellows from the bee to the bg. Maybe you could even cheat and selective adj the yellow of the bee to get closer to the bg? Not that anyone would do that.
No nits or other suggestions - this is awesome.

Lon

Certainly an international image. Excellent detail and, intentional or not, the bee adds interest.

Great lighting, and you used it to its max potential capturing the bee and sage. Nice one, Ram.

fantastic details, wonderful bg and comp. and the bee as an extra highlight....great work, Ram

Brigitte

Love the bee and the image. The BG is great also. Excellent work Ram.

Ram: Great party crasher again and a superb capture of the sage. Most excellent! >=))>

Wonderful focus and DOF. That bee is posing so perfectly for you! Excellent management of all the technical details, but really you are a master of artistic mood here. All of your images have an elegance about them and this is a prime example. Really beautiful.

This would have been a top-notch photo with just the sage blossom, but the addition of the bee puts this over the top Ram!
Technically perfect.

Beautiful image, Ram. I like everithing of it. Perfect details of the flower and gorgeous BG. The bee is a plus !
Mauro

Just superb sharpness throughout the foreground against a very pleasing background.

Superb detail, Ram - and the visitor is a nice bonus. Love the highly textured character of this flower.