Sweat Bee

Cool, rainy weather can actually be a good time to photograph insects, especially those that take shelter in flowers. This tiny native sweat bee was in a kidney-bean sized harebell flower (Campanula sp.), waiting out a gentle rainstorm on a Montana hillside I got on the ground and pointed up through the flower, picking an exposure to capture the bee's silhouette through the petal; this caused the bright gray sky to be overexposed and turn pure white. Note the bee's tiny tarsal claws, gripping the petal's edge.