The photography buzz around bees
Did you know that today is Don’t Step on a Bee Day? If this has passed you by so far, let this post remind you of the importance of our buzzy friends and how you can incorporate them into your photography and general do-gooding…
What is Don’t Step on a Bee Day?
With bee populations around the globe in decline, awareness campaigns such as #dontsteponabeeday seek to educate the public on how they can help to ensure the survival of the bee, and to increase their numbers. Without our stripy little friends, over a third of everything we eat would disappear from our tables.
Bee Good, the British Bee beauty brand, have five bee care tips to help celebrate this National Day.
- Don’t step on a bee
- Support your local beekeeper by buying British
- Plant flowers in your garden, yard or window box to encourage the bees to come
- Build a bee hotel – Friends of the Earth have a great guide
- Support the British Beekeepers Association in their efforts to promote bees and bee keeping
Hashtag: #dontsteponabeeday
Insect photography/macro photography
Many photographers have caught the bug of insect macro photography and what could be more alluring than the friendly bee? Just imagine the level of detail involved in capturing the characteristics of bees as they pollinate the flowers around them. Plus, the colours would be incredible – more than worthy of a canvas print.
Top tips include:
- Use a tripod to stop shaky hands
- Understand the minimum focusing distance of your lens
- Play about with your depth of field until you have it where you want it
If you’re interested in this form of photography, check out our insect macro photography post to learn more about getting started and top tips to perfecting your technique.
The popularity of bee keeping
A way to have a steady stream of bees to photograph, as well as helping the UK bee population, is to take up bee keeping. This pastime has become extremely popular, as well as giving keepers the health and taste benefits on natural honey on tap.
Bee keeping is not as labour intensive as it may seem. Your hive is self-sufficient but there are certain times of year that you will need to intervene in terms of cleaning and removal of dead bees and cobwebs etc. Make sure you keep on top of space too as the queen bee may sense there is not enough room and will leave with half the colony to form another colony.
You can buy bees from bee auctions in your local area - your local beekeepers’ association can help with where to look for this. To learn more about this pastime, head to the British Beekeepers’ Association.
