<p>The red maple, Acer rubrum, often one of the most dominant trees in deciduous woods in the East. It blooms very early in the spring and provides pollen and nectar to the set of bees, and flower flies, that come out early. One can only imagine what the tonnage of pollen and nectar these trees produce in aggregate, and how such a seemingly small, component of the tree, flowers, could drive the populations of a huge number of bees and other insects in. Flowers collected by the photographs taken by Helen Lowe Metzman from Howard County Maryland.
<b>               13:06, 25 December 2018 (UTC)13:06, 25 December 2018 (UTC){{{{{{0}}}}}}13:06, 25 December 2018 (UTC)13:06, 25 December 2018 (UTC)</b>
</p><p>All photographs are public domain, feel free to download and use as you wish.
</p><p><b>Photography Information: </b>Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens,  Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler,  F5.0,  ISO 100,  Shutter Speed 200
</p><p><i>Beauty is nature's fact.    - Emily Dickinson
</i>
</p><p>You can also follow us on Instagram - account = USGSBIML     <b>Want some Useful Links to the Techniques We Use?  Well now here you go Citizen:</b>
Best over all technical resource for photo stacking:&lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.extreme-macro.co.uk">http://www.extreme-macro.co.uk</a>" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.extreme-macro.co.uk/&lt;/a&gt;
Art Photo Book:  Bees:  An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World:
&lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.amazon.com/Bees-Up-Close-Pollinators-Around-World/dp/0760347387/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1488851025&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=bees+up+close">https://www.amazon.com/Bees-Up-Close-Pollinators-Around-World/dp/0760347387/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1488851025&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=bees+up+close</a>" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.amazon.com/Bees-Up-Close-Pollinators-Around-World/dp/...&lt;/a&gt;
</p><p>Free Field Guide to Bee Genera of Maryland:     &lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf">http://bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf</a>" rel="nofollow"&gt;bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
Basic USGSBIML set up:
&lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY</a>" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-_yvIsucOY&lt;/a&gt;
</p><p>USGSBIML Photoshopping Technique:  Note that we now have added using the burn tool at 50% opacity set to shadows to clean up the halos that bleed into the black background from "hot" color sections of the picture.
&lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4</a>" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdmx_8zqvN4&lt;/a&gt;
</p><p>Bees of Maryland Organized by Taxa with information on each Genus
&lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections">https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections</a>"&gt;www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/collections&lt;/a&gt;
</p><p>PDF of Basic USGSBIML Photography Set Up:  
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf">ftp://ftpext.usgs.gov/pub/er/md/laurel/Droege/How%20to%20Take%20MacroPhotographs%20of%20Insects%20BIML%20Lab2.pdf</a>
</p><p>Google Hangout Demonstration of Techniques:
&lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo">https://plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo</a>" rel="nofollow"&gt;plus.google.com/events/c5569losvskrv2nu606ltof8odo&lt;/a&gt;
or 
&lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU</a>" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c15neFttoU&lt;/a&gt;
</p><p>Excellent Technical Form on Stacking:
&lt;a href="<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.photomacrography.net/">http://www.photomacrography.net/</a>" rel="nofollow"&gt;www.photomacrography.net/&lt;/a&gt;
</p><p><b>Contact information:</b>  
Sam Droege  
sdroege@usgs.gov
</p>
301 497 5840
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/54563451@N08">USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab</a> from Beltsville, Maryland, USA
2018-07-04 09:35
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgsbiml/29323765438/">Acer rubrum, staminate flr., Howard County, MD, _2018-05-17-13.04</a>