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Butterfly gift

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted August 4, 2014138 views8 comments

I went out to a local park to photograph the teasels that had part way lost their flowers, and 3 kinds of butterflies happened to be feeding on them. Just one of those gifts we photographers sometimes get on lucky days. This butterfly is a Painted Lady.

Canon 5d, M3, ISO1250, 400mm, f/7.1, 1/1600 sec. It was not Hand held but I had the IS0 up so high because I thought the butterfly would move more than it did. I didn't realize that they stay still for as long as they do when they are feeding.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on August 5, 2014 at 6:45 AM

Beautiful, Kathy. This image has a lot going for it. Beautiful Painted Lady BF, a great floral perch, nice backlighting, good bg, and an excellent comp. Only nit is the noise from the high iso.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Charles Rose on August 5, 2014 at 11:50 AM

Hi Kathy. I really like the composition. It's a beautiful specimen (Painted Lady). Maybe a tad noisy. I would try to filter out the BG noise via post processing.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 58 Posts, 122 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on August 5, 2014 at 4:24 PM

I agree with Scott. Some careful NR (very careful!) would help. Butterflies can be aggravating indeed!

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on August 5, 2014 at 9:00 PM

Hi Kathy,

I agree with the other reviewers about the noise. You should drop that ISO down to 400 and still get a fairly sharp image. You can also try to use an extension tube with your 400mm which will allow you to focus at a closer distance to the subject than for exposures taken without an extension tube. That way you do not have to crop as much and retain better detail and image quality. I like your composition and the butterfly is lit up nicely with the ambient light........................Jim

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on August 5, 2014 at 10:39 PM

Indeed a lovely look at this Painted Lady with excellent detail in both the bf and the teasel. Nuff said about the crop and ss. If you're serious about macro/close up work, the critical feature is the magnification. With a 400mm Canon lens the maximum magnification is in the range 0.11 to 0.17 (check this page out). When you add extension tubes, you gain magnification in the ratio of the extension tube length divided by the lens focal length. So if you added 50 mm of extension to your 400, the magnification gain would be about 12%. That's not much of a reduction in crop amount. Extension tubes are a great addition to any photog's kit, but they clearly give the most bang for your buck on shorter lenses (say in the 100 - 200 mm range).

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Wolfenden on August 6, 2014 at 7:49 AM

Very fine image, Cathy ! Love the light especially, the pale yellow oof flower in the bg and, of course, the perfect sharpness of the butterfly.

Registered on May 18, 2007, 1108 Posts, 7647 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on August 6, 2014 at 10:46 PM

Hi Kathy

The sublime light really caught my attention. along with the delightful detail. and color