Disappointing but a good learning curve on these. A local Nature Center was touting a butterfly exhibit that sounded very intersting, so how could I pass up this opportunity to give them a try
Arrived at 10am to find a very small outdoor screeened in exhibit about 8x20. Only saw 4 different species and rather limited shooting opportunites but gave it a go. This will sure help for my next attemp!
Canon 40D w/300 f/4 IS handheld and diffused 580ex flash. These are not so easy, my hat is off to those that have posted some stunning ones lately, I'm working on it!
1,2,3 Monarch a bit tattered in the wing tips, captivity is taking its toll
Hi Karl,
The one you requested an ID on - I am pretty sure it is: (Colias philodice) Clouded Sulphur. Good first try at butterflies. I regulary view your post and you are a far superior photographer to me so take all I say with a grain of salt. One issue has nothing to do with your photography skills and that's that some of the butterflies you had to work with are in poor condition. When butterfly wings are frayed or torn you will almost always see a loss of color vibrancy throughout the whole wing. Or, simply - frayed wings also lose color beyond just the frayed edges. Like BIF photos it's an aperture/shutter speed thing - you need the depth of field but they won't be still for a nano-second! Your compositions are very nice - as is your PPing. As you know, you have some DOF issues on some shots - or it could be wing tip motion - it's hard to tell (I should have checked your images for embedded EXIF into but forgot to). I have a 300 f4 (Nikon) but I much prefer the 105 f2.8 Macro, hand held, natural light for butterfly shots. Your last shot, the flower, is beautiful. Thanks for posting and as good as your bird and other shots are I am sure your butterfly shots will soon be the standard for FM. Thanks for sharing, Bill.
Edit - checked EXIF info on a couple and they were at f4 and f5.6 - I am not saying that's "wrong", just that with my 300 or my 105 lens I try to stop down to f8 - or more to keep the whole wing surface in focus!
tarheel wrote:
Hi Karl,
The one you requested an ID on - I am pretty sure it is: (Colias philodice) Clouded Sulphur. Good first try at butterflies. I regulary view your post and you are a far superior photographer to me so take all I say with a grain of salt. One issue has nothing to do with your photography skills and that's that some of the butterflies you had to work with are in poor condition. When butterfly wings are frayed or torn you will almost always see a loss of color vibrancy throughout the whole wing. Or, simply - frayed wings also lose color beyond just the frayed edges. Like BIF photos it's an aperture/shutter speed thing - you need the depth of field but they won't be still for a nano-second! Your compositions are very nice - as is your PPing. As you know, you have some DOF issues on some shots - or it could be wing tip motion - it's hard to tell (I should have checked your images for embedded EXIF into but forgot to). I have a 300 f4 (Nikon) but I much prefer the 105 f2.8 Macro, hand held, natural light for butterfly shots. Your last shot, the flower, is beautiful. Thanks for posting and as good as your bird and other shots are I am sure your butterfly shots will soon be the standard for FM. Thanks for sharing, Bill.
Edit - checked EXIF info on a couple and they were at f4 and f5.6 - I am not saying that's "wrong", just that with my 300 or my 105 lens I try to stop down to f8 - or more! ...Show more →
Thanks a bunch Bill! Glad you have followed some of my other posts, always willing to mix it up when I can. Started out shooting f/8 but I may have inadvertntly bumped the f/stop more wide open. Wasn't too impressed with the subjects and tight shooting quarters. I think I had more fun when the young kids came in to watch them, always great to see their eyes light up I agree with your statement on the frayed wings and loss of color, I think they are supposed to replenish with some fresh ones. Will give it another go and work that f/8 + area for more DOF.
Sure appreciate your comments, I will verify then post the ID on the Sulphur
OOHH, Karl and Anthony in a butt off!! This is gettiing good.
Nice to see you pushing yourself Karl, I'll let you make all the mistakes and then maybe I'll give it a go! Just kidding, the only reason I haven't been to the butterflies is......I just haven't gotten around to it.
I like the flower and the way the bokeh just flows out and around it. Very nice.
I find your butterflies intriguing. The reason being the flowers in the shots are splendid and then you try to get a good bug on top of that. For that reason I think your butterflies are suffering from too little dof. You can get away with less dof if you are shooting at wings parallel to the sensor. Most of your bugs decided to muck with you by spreading their wings making things impossible for you but that is okay. If the wings are spread so what if the focus fades out. Well now I'm rambling so.... its 1&4 for me. Nice job on these.
Just remember, the minute you get real good at this Socrate will post some and make you cry. I say that just to push you my friend.
Oh Karl, your butt is so much nicer than Ant's... Oh wait that didn't come out right
Love them all, some of the nicest butts posted in the past few days Well, except for the people forum.. I seen this one blonde on there the other day.. whoooow...
PS. what is up with Ant's blurry shots... oh I get it now, its a artsy fartsy thing.. he is so gay (happy)
Tim Kuhn wrote:
OOHH, Karl and Anthony in a butt off!! This is gettiing good.
Nice to see you pushing yourself Karl, I'll let you make all the mistakes and then maybe I'll give it a go! Just kidding, the only reason I haven't been to the butterflies is......I just haven't gotten around to it.
I like the flower and the way the bokeh just flows out and around it. Very nice.
I find your butterflies intriguing. The reason being the flowers in the shots are splendid and then you try to get a good bug on top of that. For that reason I think your butterflies are suffering from too little dof. You can get away with less dof if you are shooting at wings parallel to the sensor. Most of your bugs decided to muck with you by spreading their wings making things impossible for you but that is okay. If the wings are spread so what if the focus fades out. Well now I'm rambling so.... its 1&4 for me. Nice job on these.
Just remember, the minute you get real good at this Socrate will post some and make you cry. I say that just to push you my friend.
I expect to cry a few times, this was a rather frustrating outing. I think with that 36mm tube that even f/8 isn't going to be enough on a wing spread, will have to be more selective on poses or dump the tube or use a shorter one maybe. Not sure, but started at f/8 and ended up the other way Might have to work at a higher angle to help too, it is gonna take a few outings to get these up to snuff. Anthony posted some great ones Thanks for being easy on me
72chevelle454 wrote:
Oh Karl, your butt is so much nicer than Ant's... Oh wait that didn't come out right
Love them all, some of the nicest butts posted in the past few days Well, except for the people forum.. I seen this one blonde on there the other day.. whoooow...
PS. what is up with Ant's blurry shots... oh I get it now, its a artsy fartsy thing.. he is so gay (happy)
Chad, I think Ant is cutting loose on his creative side He put up a few good buttz this eve I have a feeling he is gonna hit us with some Floralosity soon too
People forum is refreshing once in a while, but I refuse to take pictures of something that can talk back to me
Long way to go on these buttz, butt got the first post out of the way, good thing it is amongst friends Thanks!
Karl
Aug 05, 2008 at 08:51 PM
anthony whitmo Offline • • • • • • Upload & Sell: Off
Karl >> Dont' ya hate it when you get one to pose for you and then you look through the viewfinder to find it's wings all hacked up !!
I deleted hundreds due to bad wings................ Looks like it wasn't just my buttz being all chunked up ........ Maybe I should rephrase that before Chad and Tim show up ............... Or Dave and Socrate's........... they're in rare form today too ....................
nice shots my friend !! Looks like you were able to do a good job of focusing on the head. Much better than I did.
Ya did good and your next outing will be even better
anthony whitmo wrote:
Tim and Chad................ Bite me
Karl >> Dont' ya hate it when you get one to pose for you and then you look through the viewfinder to find it's wings all hacked up !!
I deleted hundreds due to bad wings................ Looks like it wasn't just my buttz being all chunked up ........ Maybe I should rephrase that before Chad and Tim show up ............... Or Dave and Socrate's........... they're in rare form today too ....................
nice shots my friend !! Looks like you were able to do a good job of focusing on the head. Much better than I did.
Ya did good and your next outing will be even better
I had 3 Monarchs in this enclosure, this one was the only one that would land on my pick of a flower perch, I hung around in this little tiny area for over 2 hrs, probably thought I was a perv waiting for the little kids to show up.
I noticed that you had posted buttz before I posted these but rather that look at yours and decide not to post I went for it. So, should we get together and shoot buttz some time..................
Dave In La wrote:
tough subject....even on a good day.
I need to find some to shoot with the Canon(that ought to fray a few wings)
lookin real good Karl
Much tougher than I thought Dave, seems they would be a bit easier but there is a lot to put in the comp and tricky DOF to work with. Maybe next time I will bolt on the Beemer and blast their wings off and shoot neked buttz
Karl, Monarchs are my least favorite butterflies to shoot. The reason being they aren't interesting and have little detail to show, and to get a very good shot of one is very difficult. Too many things have to came together at the same time That is why I've never posted a pic of a Monarch. I do admire your dedication to this new project, though, and I'm sure you will become a great butterfly shooter in no time. This is a very important post for you.
The Clouded Sulphur is my favorite. Lots of detail to show.
Socrate
P.S I do "plastic surgery" on the butterfly wings to fix some torns.
Shasoc wrote:
Karl, Monarchs are my least favorite butterflies to shoot. The reason being they aren't interesting and have little detail to show, and to get a very good shot of one is very difficult. Too many things have to came together at the same time That is why I've never posted a pic of a Monarch. I do admire your dedication to this new project, though, and I'm sure you will become a great butterfly shooter in no time. This is a very important post for you.
The Clouded Sulphur is my favorite. Lots of detail to show.
Socrate
P.S I do "plastic surgery" on the butterfly wings to fix some torns. ...Show more →
I noticed that the head and underside below the eyes is very difficult to show detail in. The black is very contrasty and as you mention, not too intersting. I know of an indoor faciltiy that will offer up some of the very pretty ones next time. I now have even more respect for your butterfly shots Socarte I am glad you find them least favorite, a good excuse to stay away from them for me Thanks for the support my friend!
Karl
Karl, I know how frustrating butterflies can be, and for once, I'll actually disagree with Socrate in that I would never try and repair a wing - just find another subject You did very well with these and I hope you have more opportunities that offer you more variety.
MaggieBee wrote:
Karl, I know how frustrating butterflies can be, and for once, I'll actually disagree with Socrate in that I would never try and repair a wing - just find another subject You did very well with these and I hope you have more opportunities that offer you more variety.
Maggie that is the main reason why all the butterflies come to my backyard to have their pictures taken.
Socrate
oh I get it now, its a artsy fartsy thing.. he is so gay (happy)
Might have to work at a higher angle to help too, it is gonna take a few outings to get these up to snuff. Anthony posted some great ones 
