About the Image(s)

Camera settings: 1/320sec, 205mm, f/6.3, ISO50

We had a wonderful family summer camping holiday prior to Christmas. The children were very interested in how bumble bees pollinate, and kept stopping to watch them at work. They laughed when I told them bumblebees have smelly feet, and they leave their scent on each flower they visit. They loved seeing this one store its pollen, so this was one of the shots they asked me to take.

I cropped in to focus on the bee. I created a Nik HDR Efex layer at 50% opacity and painted on the bee, then lowered the brush opacity and lightly painted the flowers on the same plane. I then used a curves layer to lighten the background, and a Hue/Sat layer to cool the background.
I wasn't happy with the flowers in the very foreground being slightly out of focus - but I decided to go with it! I stamped up and added a 3px Gaussian blur, applying it to smooth out the flowers and also the background.