petal pusher

Let's see whether we can I.D. these here...  I think that's a Drone Fly perched on a Shasta Daisy.  It looked like a bee from behind, but the eyes and wings are clearly not bee-like.  Then, we have a Hibiscus flower.  This one was an interesting shot for me, because it had strong backlighting, and I used a white board to reflect light back on to the front of the flower.  Finally, we have a bunch of Daisy Fleabane.  Again, there was strong backlighting, but the angle of the sun put these flowers in bright light, and the Juniper bush behind them was completely in the shade.

On another note that is not entirely unrelated, I would like to offer a tutorial on my special grilling technique.  If you want your hamburgers to turn out like mine, you will need to let yourself be distracted and keep walking away from whatever you're cooking.  I know that is unorthodox, but it is a critical component to my method, and it is how I end up serving those nice, dark biscuits that taste remarkably like charcoal.  So throw those formed patties on the hot grill, and walk around the yard with your camera!  You'll know when to grab the spatula by the smoke signals, which are easy to spot from virtually anywhere on the property.