First butterflies, ID please

Well I tried my hand at shooting some butterflies, bees and dragonflies today.
I had plenty of subjects but these were the only ones willing to sit still long enough for an old guy like me to capture them.

Before I go on with the pics, I just want to give a thumbs up to the guys that catch dragonflies in flight. I got about 6 pics of them today and none are worth sharing. MAN that's hard to do, but I will keep at it.

Butterflies were shot with my 100-400L-IS from about 20-25 feet.
ISO 100, f6.3, ss 1/640 on one shot and 1/800 on the other two.
They were shot out of the window of my car.

C&C is always welcome as I'm trying to learn.

really nice shots love the colour and detail
cant help with ID I'm afraid
Pete

lcpete wrote in post #3936353
really nice shots love the colour and detail
cant help with ID I'm afraid
Pete

Thanks Pete

Beautiful pics Scott!!

Photogirl2007 wrote in post #3937243
Beautiful pics Scott!!

Thanks Joan, I found me a new hotspot for bugs today. Cool thing is I can sit in the car and shoot. Rest one elbow on the armrest and the other on the steering wheel.

Considering where you're shooting from and the distance these are pretty good shots. Having said that, the distance is working against you. The centre point of any live subject is the eyes. And the eyes don't have it. They're missed every time because you're too far away to lock onto them. You have the talent; the composition of your shots show this, now get out of that car, get closer, and work a bit harder to get the shots you're capable of.

after much searching through Butterflies of Georgia site I found that the Sleepy Orange was similar. An image search with better photos confirmed this ID (female).

http://images.google.c​o.uk …Den%26safe%3Dof​f%26sa%3DN

Thanks for the ID racketman. Much thanks.

eccles wrote in post #3937470
Considering where you're shooting from and the distance these are pretty good shots. Having said that, the distance is working against you. The centre point of any live subject is the eyes. And the eyes don't have it. They're missed every time because you're too far away to lock onto them. You have the talent; the composition of your shots show this, now get out of that car, get closer, and work a bit harder to get the shots you're capable of.

Yeah it was hot and I really went down to the park to shoot the ducks. As I went to park I noticed bees, butterflies and dragonflies everywhere.
All I had with me was the 100-400l and a tripod. I could have used the tripod but I don't think I would have gotten the shot.
Nothing would stay landed on anything for more than a sec or so. I don't know what the deal was. I made a bunch of bee shots, but I was constantly chasing them through the lens. If I waited more than a split sec they would move on.

Enough with the excuses.
Thanks a lot for the advice eccles, I really do appreciate it. That's what I actually post pics for is advice. Keep it coming.

Hope it helps, Scott. The pics ARE nice, and only just missing that final 'pop', and you might even be able to retrieve enough eye detail to give that with a judicious bit of sharpening when post processing them.

eccles wrote in post #3937470
Considering where you're shooting from and the distance these are pretty good shots. Having said that, the distance is working against you. The centre point of any live subject is the eyes. And the eyes don't have it. They're missed every time because you're too far away to lock onto them. You have the talent; the composition of your shots show this, now get out of that car, get closer, and work a bit harder to get the shots you're capable of.

Agreed. Still, the lighting is very nice and the composition is reasonably good. Take Mike's advice

Dave