Comment from Dick Lee Shia
A cute & candid capture!!
An interesting initial impact.
Fiery blooms are strikingly red.
Gentle name with baby soft bristles.
Here we call it powder pop.
Our bottle brush is yellow green.
Thanks for sharing...

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2016

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2016

Thanks Dick, appreciate your positive feedback and information. :) Mary

Comment from Sange
Very nice capture Mary of this Bee in a bottle brush flower.
You handled exposure/white balance well and your focus is good.
I would like to know your settings to help you better.
I think your f/stop could have been lower to get a softer background all around.
I shoot 1/3200 sec or 1/4000sec with an f/stop of f/4.5
I would suggest you crop tight all around to keep our eyes on the bee and not the distracting background.
Nice work =)

 Comment Written 11-Apr-2016

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2016

Thanks again Sange for your constructive advice. I did forget to change settings and had it on a high ISO1250 F5.6 1/640 so knew it wasn't fast enough after I had taken it but bee disappeared by time I changed to higher speed. :) Mary

reply by Sange on 12-Apr-2016

Up that shutter speed when shooting wildlife, insects even flowers if you have wind..
1/2500sec is average..but as I said.. I am at 1/3200sec to 1/4000sec keeping f/stop as low as f/4.5 to f/ 5.6

Comment from Lolly Cardinal
Amazing flower with bee. Colors are bright, clear and wonderful. Leaves of a majestic green enhances the red and white tip of this flower. The pretty bee on top very nice detailed and colors. Centered, detailed and shadowed properly. In all, magnificent photo and lovely eye viewer.
Thanks for showing.
Congratulations and Good Luck!

 Comment Written 11-Apr-2016

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2016

Thanks Lolly I really appreciate your positive feedback. :) Mary

Comment from jo-cal
a lovely image of the bee on the little john bottle bush
I like the detail on the flower and the light on the bee which highlights the wings, the red and green really stand out and the placement of the flower in the frame works well. I would perhaps have just cropped a bit off the top which would show less of the slight distraction on the top left, but that said this is a great image, thanks for sharing never seen this plant before. jo

 Comment Written 11-Apr-2016

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2016

Thanks so much jo-cal, I appreciate your positive feedback. :) Mary

Comment from Susan F. M. T.
A Fantastic picture of the Honey Bee sucking nectar from the Red Little John Bottle Brush The sunlight hi lighting her wings & the beauty of the flower. Beautiful composition, framing & lighting with superb camera techniques & sharp focus.
Susan

 Comment Written 11-Apr-2016

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2016

Thanks so much Susan really appreciate your positive feedback. :) Mary

Comment from liseworks
Perfect capture of this bee on this interesting, colourful flower,,love the colour of this..its amazing the bee can find the center of this. love your background green foliage and other flower, great focus, nice lighting and looks balanced.

 Comment Written 11-Apr-2016

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2016

Wow thanks so much your high rating and lovely feedback is really appreciated. :) Mary

Comment from michiganmike
A very fine shot. I knew there was a colloquial name for this great looking blossom that had something to do with a brush. Thanks. A well cropped image with beautiful colors and very fine detail in the bee.

 Comment Written 11-Apr-2016

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reply by the author on 12-Apr-2016

Thanks so much Mike your positive feedback. :) Mary

Comment from Imaginos
Ah, the little drone. So busy at his job of collecting pollen for the queen.
Isn't it amazing that what we see as a lovely moment of beauteous splendor, the bee sees as just another day at the office.

 Comment Written 11-Apr-2016

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reply by the author on 11-Apr-2016

Thanks so much for your feedback. :) Mary

reply by Imaginos on 11-Apr-2016

You're welcome.