Butterflies (7 Pics, weird crops)

[Scottes]

I ended my day at a local butterfly house.

The butterflies did not cooperate with my aspect ratio today. I got a few framed correctly, but then something happened. I usually don't do this sort of weird cropping, but that's how this visit turned out. Very strange.

Anyway, enjoy. (And story-free, too!)

These two were OK, since I didn't have to crop.
Monarch:
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/Butterfly_8763.jpg
Isabella Tiger Longwing:
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/Butterfly_8778.jpg


I like the way the sun was hitting at the end of the branch and the butterfly, and the way the branch curved off into the corner. I didn't do it justice, though - it was way cooler in my mind's eye. Monarch:
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/Butterfly_8803.jpg


A touch of flash on this on, from the built-in. It was sunny, so I didn't think I needed the 550EX. I should have brought it because the atrium faces the north so it gets odd sunlight. (No idea of ID)
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/Butterfly_8815.jpg


Just about all flash on this one. The Blue Morphos seem to like to hide in the darkest bits.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/Butterfly_8819.jpg


Just about my all-time favorite, the Isabella Tiger Longwing. I just like the way their coloring shows up in photos in this pose.
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/Butterfly_8841.jpg


Paper Kite and Purple, and some reddish that managed to sneak in. Stupid flower...
http://www.itsanadventure.com/postimages/Butterfly_8876.jpg

[eric1]

i liked ms. isabella the best, nice bohkeh! :D

[Scottes]

Thanks Eric. I meant to mention that these were all with the Sigma 105mm Macro, a lens that produces some *very* fine image. Excellent optics.

[ssim]

Fantastic shots dude. I like the Blue Morphos the best but they are all really good.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Wonderfull shots!

Take Me! take Me!!!! :lol:

What's "weird" about the cropping? They look fantastic.. very well composed.

The colors ,.. of course,. are amazing.

[tommykjensen]

Fantastic shots !

[Scottes]

What's "weird" about the cropping? They look fantastic.. very well composed.

Weird is the fact that I *had* to crop them, and to such an extent. Usually I'm pretty good about cropping "in camera" and managing a decent composition at 3:2 or close to that. Most of the shots from that afternoon required me to crop something out, or move things over, or something. None of the original full frames looked right - some were downright bad until I cropped.


I'm not complaining or anything, it just seemed weird to me that my eye was off that day. Comparing these shots to an old collection taken in March (here if you care (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=28551&highlight=butterfly)) at least the March ones all came out fine at 3:2 - even if they were "portrait" shots.

In the shots above it seemed like the butterflies, background, light, and my eye all worked against me. I guess that sometimes you forget to look, other times you look too hard. I'm not sure which I did.

[srika]

very beautiful shots. kudos are in order. :applause:

[cindavphoto]

Very Impressed!!!

[PhotosGuy]

I like the way the sun was hitting at the end of the branch and the butterfly, and the way the branch curved off into the corner. I didn't do it justice, though - it was way cooler in my mind's eye. Monarch:

Sometimes things that look just OUTSTANDING in the viewfinder look dissapointing on the monitor. Wish I knew why, too!
Really nice shots, Scottes!

[stardis]

These are outstanding. It seems that you had the lighting just perfect because the colors are wonderful. I wish I could get my butterfly pics as sharp as yours.

[PacAce]

Great shots, Scott. I've noticed that a lot of the pictures I've been looking at these couple of days have been looking very sharp, clear and colors are so fantastic. I just couldn't get over the clarity of them all. Then it just dawned on me that it must be this new Apple Cinema Display that I've been using lately. Of course, there has to be very good pictures to start with but this display just makes viewing them that much more enjoyable.

But anyway, I digress. Those are really nice shots of the butterflies.

[LazyPhotographer]

Beautiful, beautiful images... <sniff> You make me so proud!

[Scottes]

Thanks again folks!

Leo - It's not your fancy monitor. These shots look great on a VT220.
:D :D :D
Seriously though, I'm quite jealous.

Stardis - Practice. The first two times I went to a butterfly house I didn't have a single keeper. The third time I had a clue. somewhat, but still no keepers. The fourth time I got some keepers. The fifth time I had even more, and I was happy. And this is the sixth time I've been to a butterlfy house. (LOL - I've only gotten one in the wild! The wild ones are even tougher to get, though the light is often better.)

A few tips - underexpose to save the blown highlights. Butterflies have so many pure colors - reds & yellows especially - that it's real easy to blow them out. Underexposing by even up to -1-1/3 is common - and this helps increase the DoF by using a smaller aperture. Do your best to get the wing(s) perfectly flat to the plane of the film/sensor - at close distances it's very easy to get a wingtip outisde the DoF and it will be blurry. In the photos above only the monarchs aren't flat to the camera - and they further away from me, allowing for more DoF.