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Butterfly

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted June 13, 20183,137 views5 comments

Taken in Cape May, New Jersey. Anyone know the species. Was out to shoot birds, but came across a cooperative butterfly.

Canon 7D Mark II
Sigma 150-600 at 516 mm (Is it considered a close-up/macro if a long lens is used?)
1/1000 at f6.3
ISO 640

Thanks for looking. Comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on June 13, 2018 at 10:51 PM

Hi Allen,

This is a black swallowtail that ran into a hungry bird. The blacks are very intense at the wing bases and you want to lighten those areas up to pull out some additional details. Long lens macros work well for large insects like butterflies and dragonflies. Well done..........................Jim

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

Comment posted by Bill Fach on June 14, 2018 at 11:26 AM

Allen: Jim is right on with the ID. I like that this one is not an absolutely perfect specimen and that you got a full wing open shot with a good BG. Nicely done.>=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on June 14, 2018 at 4:05 PM

Allen, this is a fine look at this Eastern Black Swallowtail, including that it's been roughed up a bit. You've placed it well in the frame, the details look good and the background works well. My (totally subjective) criteria is that the actual size of the image needs to be less than about 12 inches, long axis, to be considered macro/close-up. The length of the lens is not important.

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

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on June 17, 2018 at 8:42 PM

Allen, this is definitely an Eastern. The patterns match perfectly. I have the same opinion as Mark about macro. To me a field of view of 12 inches on the long side is perfectly fine, especially for the larger critters. You have a really nice comp and position of the wings to get such good detail throughout, especially shooting at such wide aperture with that focal length, and the colorful nicely diffused BG works great to give it a sense of depth. It's a very well executed image.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Balan Vinod on June 19, 2018 at 8:52 AM

Allen ..this is a beautiful image ..for the fine bg and the bf making a clear separation. Love this ..tack sharp

Balan Vinod

Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments