I frequently relax by listening to post-rock bands. This has a few effects if I do so while working on photography. Photographs worked on tend to take on a more abstract look, and the titles tend to be... Longer. Many bands in post rock have sentence-length song titles. Anyway, I relaly felt like one was fitting for this photograph. Despite being clearly a nature photograph of birds, it has a very distinct appeal.
I had never tried using my 75-300mm lens for macro work until last year. I've owned one since 2008 or so, but only tried using it for far-off subjects. Last summer, I began trying it out for macro work. It's not the best, but it gives me something to work with. I also managed to obtain a 60mm f/2.8 macro, and this is one of my earliest captures on it. At the time, I had a less than complete knowledge of apertures and depth of field. I've learned a lot since then. However, I feel like this shot really came out as a quality composition. The bokeh was excellent. The sharpness of the honeybee and the foreground flower. I am totally satisfied with this. I was not so satisfied with my hands and knees, though. This flower was just off a path paved with some kind of glued-together pebbles, and it hurts to sit in it.
Downtown Raleigh put in these big light pillars a few years back that are covered in metal leaves with lighting systems underneath the grid. This was in the fall, and the pillars were cycling reds, oranges, and yellows. It made me think of the autumn, and I caught this during one of the light changes.