A yellow-flowered ice plant (Delosperma nubigenum) is now in bloom in the yard, so it has become a major hub for bees, butterflies, and other insects (and one photographer). Last week’s macro mystery will also be revealed below, so here’s a spoiler alert if you missed last week’s post!

Ice plant (Delosperma nubigenum). The bright colors and lack of foliage make it very photogenic, especially for macros.

If you want a challenge, try photographing a bee in flight with a manual-focus lens. They’re so fast that I’d try to guess where one was going to fly after it landed, but then it would almost always fly in the opposite direction.

This fly resembles a bee. One of the easiest ways to differentiate between a fly and a bee is by the shape of the eyes.
Now it’s time for the Macro Mystery #1 reveal!
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Were you able to identify it correctly? If not, that’s okay – here’s a new mystery to try. The first image is a cropped version, and below it is the full macro clue.
Keep scrolling for the full clue…
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Do you think you know what this is? You can write your answers/guesses in the comment section, and the answer will be revealed next week!
Macro Mystery #2 has been revealed: https://themarkhorton.com/2017/05/22/a-bug-battle-and-macro-mystery-2-reveal/