Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly on Porterweed

[Marina Scarr]

Well I am posting another CSB using the advice offered from my last post. I am having so much fun learning about these creatures and the plants they enjoy.

On a side note, while I appreciate the advice on using a tripod and ballhead for macro, this particular aviary is not really conducive to same. Frankly, I am not a big fan of tripods unless I am using my 500. I do understand however that for macro it's advisable and if I were to take photograph macro more seriously, I would be heading everybody's advice.

Canon 1D4, Canon 70-200L F4 IS & extension tube
F11, 1/100sec, ISO 640
Handheld

C & C always welcomed and much appreciated.

Marina Scarr
Florida Master Naturalist
www.marinascarrphotography.com (http://www.marinascarrphotography.com)


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[Allen Sparks]

Hi Marina, This looks very well done to me. Excellent sharpness for 1/100s. I am one of those people that does not use a tripod for butterflies either - they are hard for me to catch just using a monopod. I think you could use a little more room on the bottom. I am wondering why your BG is blacked out. I actually like the effect and think it makes the butterfly really pop.

[Marina Scarr]

I am wondering why your BG is blacked out. I actually like the effect and think it makes the butterfly really pop.

I realize by your question that I forgot to put my flash info on my thread which is how the BG was rendered black. I believe I had it set in manual at -1/16th. Additionally, the BG was a distance away from the subject.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Marina. This image has a lot of good things going for it - pose, sharpness, colors, and comp! I'm not a big fan of black backgrounds for subjects shot during the daytime (my personal preference - and other folks will disagree :S3:) and I much prefer the "natural looking" background of your previous post. As I'm sure you know, black backgrounds can be difficult to avoid when using flash - especially for macro. One thing you might try (and this is not always practical) is to use an artificial background (e.g., a print of OOF vegetation) which is placed close enough behind your subject that it is illuminated by the flash. Of course, this requires a cooperative subject and maybe an extra set of hands. Overall, this is very nicely done!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Marina good exposure and focus on the butterfly, perhaps the flower a tad underexposed. I am not usually a keen on pics of butterflies at midnight but I like this particular one. I suspect you were using the flash to enable a crisp image capture, you may wish to try using AV mode and fill in flash at say -1.66 or thereabouts for light coloured subjects and depending upon ambient light the flashgun may require high speed sync setting, i.e. if shutter speed > normal sync. speed. This will provide a natural lighting scenario, you will of course have to keep a check on the shutter speed being hand held (maybe consider a monopod or even a long piece of strong elastic from the camera to your foot), I would suggest try 1/250 sec - 1/500 sec and around f8- f11 and adjust the ISO accordingly. You may occasionally get away with shutter speeds slower than 1/250 sec, it depends upon magnification and how steady you can hold your camera.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I like this one alot with the great dof and black bg

[Marina Scarr]

Thank you everyone for all of the excellent advice.

[Bob Miller]

Hi Marina....Nice composition with good sharpness. You might consider brigtening up the butterfly a bit so it stands out more

[Satish Ranadive]

Great composition, beautiful colors,lovely details.Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[Ken Childs]

Marina, I love the look of the butterfly....color and sharpness are outstanding! The color of the flowers goes great with this shade of yellow. I agree with Bob that this butterfly could stand to be a bit brighter....a small boost in contrast should take care of that. The antennae are getting lost in the BG but because the BG is black, you can easily brush over them with the Dodge Tool to brighten them up.

I find that tripods are useful when I'm sitting in one spot, waiting for a butterfly to land on a select group of flowers. That and the occasional early morning shot are the only times I'll attempt to shoot 'flies with a tripod. Butterflies don't hold still for long so if you have to take time to setup a tripod after you've spotted the subject, 9 times out of 10 the butterfly will be gone before you're ready to shoot it.

I am so glad you started working with macro. Your early attempts look great so I imagine that your future work will look incredible! :S3: