Butterfly Exhibit

[HectorsGTI]

These were taken at the Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. They have an annual butterfly exhibit using butterflies from around the world. My daughter shot with the Powershot S1 and got several great shots. I am not used to my new camera gear and shot most of these wide open with the 24-70 f/2.8 L as I wanted a nice bokah. I had no idea the lens had THAT narrow a depth of field. If I go again I will try f/4 or more. Most of the shots resulted in the wings being clear and the head being blurred or vice versa. You can really see just how narrow the DOF is at f/2.8 in the last photo.

full gallery here:
http://www.00photo.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=17

couple good ones:

http://www.00photo.com/photos/albums/fauna/2006_meijer_butterflies/web_img_3630.jpg
http://www.00photo.com/photos/albums/fauna/2006_meijer_butterflies/web_img_3681.jpg
http://www.00photo.com/photos/albums/fauna/2006_meijer_butterflies/web_img_3629.jpg
http://www.00photo.com/photos/albums/fauna/2006_meijer_butterflies/web_img_3639.jpg

[RonnF]

Nice shots, Hector. I really like the flower/butterfly composition of #1. I think you're right. A slightly smaller aperature may have sharped up that left wing a little. Good job.

[sparker1]

Still, these are all very good, IMO.

[HectorsGTI]

Thanks. Hey I see you have extension tubes. What exactly do those do? Would they enable me to focus closer? I found several times when I wished I could have gotten a bit closer on some of the smaller butterflies and flowers. I had to crop most of my images. That 5D sensor makes it hard to frame the photos. Would they give you vignetting you would have to crop out later?

[tpetty]

They're all great Hector, but #4 IMO is perfect!