ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Tuesday, 16 June 2015

THE BEES. (16/06/15)

It’s a bit damp and dismal this morning but I went to see how the bees were doing and took a bit of video.

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There are lots of these micro moths around but it needed a drop of rain to quieten them down.
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This green Orb Weaver was sitting on the caravan next door when I went to sort the money out. It’s about twice the size I’ve seen before.
I’m going to dip the pond now and see what I can find lurking in the murky depths.

30 comments:

  1. Watched the video. It was nice even though you had it hand held. The shots are amazing as usual.

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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    1. Mersad, it's not good but I don't do enough to get my eye in.

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  2. HI Adrian watched the video. I don't know whether you know or not but in YouTube you can stabilise the video in the editing tools. Great shots of the insect.

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    1. Margaret, yes I did know but forgot. I usually sort it all out in either blender or photoshop but was rushing a bit this morning. I don't really like Youtube but it is what it is. It is possible to upload quality but they still compress it to hell and back.

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  3. Interesting video. I have a love/hate relation with bees. I love to photograph them, and usually they are so busy around the flowers they ignore me, but every so often......... Just recently in the news somewhere in the US someone got stung hundreds of times, scarey. Don't remember the kind of bee.

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    1. Karen, bees are a pain, trying to get one face on his almost impossible. The bees that stung 100s of times were naughty bees.

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  4. Replies
    1. R.Mac, I prefer honey to the bees but one can't have one without the other.

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  5. Nice to hear you. Yesterday, when I was weeding near the Salvia, a number of bees were buzzing around, ignoring me and doing their thing. I really enjoyed hearing that buzzing so close.

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    1. John, I should practise speaking more often. I'll think about doing a proper video with sound music the works. Given the choice bees are pretty harmless and do a good job.

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  6. The bees were a little calmer today then Adrian...you thought you'd be brave?

    Nettle-tap Moth (Anthophila fabriciana) There'll be swarms of them about in a few weeks time!

    Nice macro of the Cucumber spider, amazing things..spiders, I'm just starting to get interested in them!

    Hope the pond dipping goes okay, I'm looking forwards to seeing some artistic images of rusty bikes and shopping trollies!...[;o)

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    1. Trevor, they went ape shit yesterday...... was a little tentative in my approach.
      Thanks for the ID. There are dozens of them at the moment.
      They are beautiful things are spiders but they do tend to rush about.
      The pond dipping went fine but getting pictures of the wee beasties I'd dipped wasn't very successful. Took me ages to set up and I'm not sure it's a vast improvement on the ring lite.

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  7. I couldn't get the bees to work, but loved that spider.

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    1. AWWW Frances. You missed me speaking just like Prince Charles. You just click on the little white arrow. I'll email you the link, I'll do it now, perchance I'll forget if I leave it. They are common spiders and can be dramatic if you look through a spy glass.
      Bet a pound to a penny you are using Safari or Firefox. They are all having trouble with Google. Naughty Google. I am a registered user and will send them a letter from Mr Angry at 'no fixed abode'.

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  8. The spider is fantastic Adrian, I did enjoy the voice over on the video strange bee-haviour too never seen them scratching around in the dirt.

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    1. Douglas, there were three or four doing it. I have some Miner bees that do it in sand heaps. But they only do it one at a time these were really giving it What. I'll set up tomorrow and let the camera look at them for an hour.
      I do the voice over after onto a little Zoom H1 then run it through Audacity to lift my voice a bit as I speak boring.
      I'll get bee buzzing tomorrow and if can and spend six hours making a two minute YOUTUBE. I may pop it on Vimeo as I'm getting well pissed off with Google.
      I may have to take some publicity shots of big tractors tomorrow but I need a couple of helpers. One has to mist a pressure washer without hitting the camera or strobes the other has to wipe it's headlights. We are trying some other numpties from Dundee. Andrew, who recruited the first lot of special needs from Auchtermuchty says they are a bit brighter in Dundee but we'll have to keep an eye on the gear.

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  9. Those are some busy bees! I had a few buzzing over my flowering bushes this weekend.

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    1. Linda, I know nothing about all the different bees but the furry ones are not honey bees but are well worth looking after as they pollinate all our fruit bushes and trees. The females can sting but rarely do. I think this gang were using a field mouse nest and a badger tried to dig them up. They were upset yesterday and stung me and poor Moll who was only trying to sniff where the badger had been. They were fine today but I didn't risk a strobe shot.

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  10. Your macro is great about the spider. Nice to see such details.

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  11. Adrian, do you shoot your video with a camcorder or a dslr and do you shoot mp4. I ask because i shoot with a camcorder in mp4 but they look dreadful on youtube, i'm lost as to what to do.


    peter

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    1. Peter, you tube work to make the dumb clucks look good or at least acceptable. I shoot using a Canon 5D II and it just about verges on 2K video. No I shoot native MVI. If you drop to MP4 it just gives You Tube another excuse to trash stuff.
      I don't do much video but if you send me your email through the link at the top of this blog then I'll give you the words and music, half the battle is saving in the right Codec, H264 or 5 helps stop Google over compressing as does entering a 720 format prior to rendering and upload. YouTube loves H264 and 720px. Never let them auto process that is for numpties.
      I never use H anything. Have a look at this video, I don't agree with it all but it is a start;

      UpLoadingto NaughtyVille

      This link may not work as I am just in from a rainy BBQ.

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    2. Sorry Peter it doesn't. I' must be pissed again. I'll sort it tomorrow.

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  12. I'm always amazed at the hair in these little critters. I guess if I wasn't so lazy I look up what is the purpose of the hair .This is also a lousy sentence that I'm also too lazy to erase and start over and write something decent.

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  13. Red, I guess it is to keep them warm.

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  14. Terrific orb spider photo Adrian.

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    1. Thanks John. More than can be said for the video but I don't mind admitting I was a wee fraet as the locals say.

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  15. I enjoyed that video, Adrian. Interesting! Good to hear your voice too - helps to complete the picture! Knocked out by the clarity of the spider image.

    Best wishes - - - Richard

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    1. Richard, I record the voice over after. The Bees are interesting. The weather has been a bit grim but I'm hoping that I find their burrow again tomorrow and can pop a bit more of their behaviour on line.

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  16. Fascinating bee video. I've only ever once found a bee nest on the island. It was in a rough stone and earth 'wall' down one side of the garden in my last house.

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    1. Graham, this one is now abandoned. It looks as if a Badger has been digging it out. There are a couple of solitary bee holes in a pile of sand but I can't catch them leaving or arriving.

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