A large number of bees at Shelley's parents' garden afforded me some nice models to experiment with to learn more about macro photography.

These photos are all shot hand-held using the 180mm macro lens and flash (with +2 compensation in most cases) and manual camera settings to ensure a fast shutter speed and increase the depth of field. The setup is capturing pretty good detail.

If you look closely you can see the individual pollen grains clinging to the bees. I did not realize bees have 5 eyes.

Click here for the rest of the bee macro shots.