Unfortunately, here in Leicestershire we have to make do with Cabbage Whites instead of Heath Fritillaries and Silver Studded Blues! At least this one was freshly emerged and in good nick.
Taken at f4.5. I was interested to see the discussion on a couple of other recent posts about how 'clean' a background should be in butterfly shots. I agree that sometimes it can be nice to have a hint of the butterfly's habitat but here the background wasn't very attractive and there was quite a strong horizontal divide between grass and some bushes. I took a variety of apertures but personally prefer this one with the clean background.
very nice Matt, nowt wrong with Large Whites, particularly when they are as good as this, that eye is really a great colour.... did you get any close ups of it?
Do agree the butterfly is a bit high in the frame but i am amazed by the enormous DOF you have managed to get at F4,5 just by staying very very very parallel to your subject!
Well done!
p.s: No Heath Fritillaries and Silver Studded Blues over here either unfortunately...
Funny, Brett Lewis was only saying to me this morning that we tend to ignore white butterflies far too much. I agree with others that it is a bit high in the frame, but still a shot where you have controlled depth of field and exposure beautifully.
thanks for the further comments. I'm interested to see that many think it's high in the frame and it's that sort of feedback that I find so useful on UKNP. I do have some shots where the butterfly is lower in the frame but to my eyes it looked a bit too central. Perhaps I overdid it a bit here though. Thanks again.
Exquisite image Matt and expertly executed. I am going to differ a bit here from the others and say that I like it at the top of the frame. It gives the image a nice uncluttered feel with the stem leading the eye straight up to the butterfly and the leaf joint. A very pleasing composition IMO and I think it would look good on the wall.
Discussion
16 repliesCanon 40D with Sigma 150, tripod etc.
Larger version here.
Taken at f4.5. I was interested to see the discussion on a couple of other recent posts about how 'clean' a background should be in butterfly shots. I agree that sometimes it can be nice to have a hint of the butterfly's habitat but here the background wasn't very attractive and there was quite a strong horizontal divide between grass and some bushes. I took a variety of apertures but personally prefer this one with the clean background.
All C+C welcomed.
Matt
My only nit would be that the subject is a bit too near the top...
You can photograph butterflies at midnight where I am - 24 hour daylight is weird
Phil, I did take a number of close-ups, here's one for example:
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/654/webimg15391000pxa.jpg
(sorry, can't post images within a thread as I've yet to renew my membership!)
That was taken at around 3x or maybe 4x with the MP-E 65.
Matt
Do agree the butterfly is a bit high in the frame but i am amazed by the enormous DOF you have managed to get at F4,5 just by staying very very very parallel to your subject!
Well done!
p.s: No Heath Fritillaries and Silver Studded Blues over here either unfortunately...
Greetings,
Jeroen Stel
David
Matt
Hi Matt,
Position in the frame aside its still a great shot, the detail and bg are superb IMO. Love the close up too!
Lewis.
dennis
Another vote for too high in the frame. Apart from that superb.
Cheers
Austin
The butterfly background and the soft light are really nice.