Even if they are in a Botanical Garden, I suppose. Some color for all you snowbound souls.
But just to show that it's not all that easy when trying to identify butterflies, they have a nasty habit of having very different color patterns within the same species, depending on where they live. If interested try Googling "Postman butterfly" images and take a look.
mike717 wrote:
Thanks Norm, nice to see something other that white and brown.
Nice assortment.
Mike
Thanks Mike, Every year this botanical garden has an ever changing 6 or 7 months crop of exotic butterflies and moths. It is a little tropical sauna at this time of year. They sell a photo guide to the species but the top of the wings are often very different from the underside of the wings. It seems all of my photos are of the side they don't show in the guide
Norm
Very nice work Norm. You have inspired me to head to the butterfly exhibit as I usually do once a year for a change of pace. I don't think I have ever seen a Mocker Swallowtail, interesting looking butterfly. All of these are very well done, I really enjoyed the set.
Beautiful set Norm. Lovely compositions and lighting. Have never seen a mocker swallowtail, what a beautiful butterfly. You make we want to head to our local butterfly exhibit
Tim Kuhn wrote:
Very nice work Norm. You have inspired me to head to the butterfly exhibit as I usually do once a year for a change of pace. I don't think I have ever seen a Mocker Swallowtail, interesting looking butterfly. All of these are very well done, I really enjoyed the set.
Tim
Thanks Tim. This was a first for me too. Not too surprising though--they are native to Africa! This was the first time I have been back to this exhibit for several years. I always seem to forget it.
Norm
birdied wrote:
Beautiful set Norm. Lovely compositions and lighting. Have never seen a mocker swallowtail, what a beautiful butterfly. You make we want to head to our local butterfly exhibit
Lovely set and a nice change of pace .
Birdie
Birdie, Thanks. Like I told Tim, this species is native to Africa. I'm amazed at the variation within a species depending on their location. I haven't paid much attention to insects in the past, so this was a surprise to me. With your talent in macro, you should have a ball with butterflies Go for it!
Norm
very nice! as i shoot birds and such and always use a really wide aperture, i was wondering if there is there a particular reason that you used f/22 (and ISO 800) in these photos? was this to maximize DOF or something else that i am missing? cool either way!
dorian wrote:
very nice! as i shoot birds and such and always use a really wide aperture, i was wondering if there is there a particular reason that you used f/22 (and ISO 800) in these photos? was this to maximize DOF or something else that i am missing? cool either way!
Dorian, Thanks. I assume that you are shooting birds with a telephoto and use a fast shutter speed to go along with your wide open aperture to minimize camera and subject movement. With macro where I have very narrow dof, using a narrow aperture gives the best dof. I could probably use a lower ISO but I was mixing some with flash and some with ambient light and didn't bother to change the ISO.
Norm
Thanks Michael. When you go make sure you put your camera inside a closed plastic bag for probably 20 minutes so that it can warm up before you take it out. The humidity is very high and very warm. Foggy lenses may give you a dreamy look but for butterflies, they suck.
Hi Norm!
I attend these Conservatory butterfly shows all the time for the exotic bf's. Nothing wrong with that at all!!
Here in Maryland we have "photographer's only" butterfly shoots at the local Conservatories in the summer. Only 10 photographers at a time and any/all eqpt you can bring.
Nice images!!! Great color and sharpness!
A FYI on the unique "mocker swallowtail" quoting from Bernard d'Abrera-World Butterflies-"the most famous case of polymorphism..are considered by workers to mimic the properties of other species in the region and is famously called the "lookalike dardanus swt." Native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Dan
