Part 2 – Photographing Bees Up Close

If flowers are the stage, bees are the performers. They bring life, movement, and unpredictability into my macro work. But unlike flowers, bees don’t wait for me. Photographing them requires a balance of quick reflexes and quiet respect.

Meeting Bees in the Morning

Some of my favorite bee photos happen right after sunrise. In those cool hours, bees move slower. I’ve come across bees still clinging to flowers, wings heavy with dew, their bodies looking soft and still. These moments feel rare and intimate, as if I’ve stumbled onto a secret in nature’s routine.

Photographing them then is easier—the bee gives me a chance to get close, to carefully focus on its fuzzy body or the curve of its wings. But as the sun climbs and the bees wake fully, everything changes. Suddenly they’re darting from bloom to bloom, never landing for more than a few seconds. That’s when I need to anticipate, not chase.

My Approach

I don’t run after bees with my lens. Instead, I pick a flower I know they’ll return to—lavender, sunflowers, wild daisies—and I wait. Sometimes it feels like fishing: you cast your line (or in this case, frame your shot), and then you hold still until something happens.

When the bee finally returns, I already have my composition ready. All I need is to nail the focus in that fleeting moment. Usually, I aim for the eyes. Just like in portrait photography, sharp eyes bring the subject to life.

Challenges and Surprises

Macro photography with bees is humbling. The depth of field is razor thin, so one millimeter off and the bee’s fuzzy body turns soft while the background stays sharp. Sometimes, the best shots aren’t the ones I thought I captured—they’re the ones where, later on the computer, I notice details I missed in real time: pollen clinging to tiny hairs, the shimmer of wings frozen mid-flap, or even a second bee entering the frame.

Every image feels like a surprise gift, proof that patience pays off.