Red Admiral Butterfly

[Melvin Grey]

I was out trying to find some shorebirds, so I only had a 500mm lens and 2x converter - shorebirds being much harder to get close to in the UK !! I came across a few butterflies feeding on ivy blossom, so rather than go home 'empty handed' I had a go at stalking them. This image is full frame, un-cropped. Taken at the closest distance that the lens combo would focus on - not exactly a macro rig but by taking care to get the plane of the butterflies wings as parallel as possible with the sensor plane I was able to make the most of the shallow depth of field, it also produced a nice out of focus BG.

Camera 1D Mk1V EF 500mm f4 L IS plus TC2 Exp. 1/500 @ f10 ISO 800

This is more to show what can be achieved with unconventional equipment.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Melvin. Nice to see you here in Macro and good use of your 1,000 mm "macro" lens. It looks like you found a perfect specimen and captured it in good light with excellent overall sharpness. I also like the diagonal positioning of the butterfly. This is a very nice image as presented, but there are a couple tweaks you might consider that could make it even better. You might selectively tone down the brighter areas of the background and perhaps crop a little from the left to have the butterfly less centered in the frame. Overall, this is very well done and I look forward to seeing more of your macro work.

[Adrian David]

A nice specimen in perfect condition. The red channel looks a bit over-saturated...Indeed , nice use of the 1000mm macro lens...

[Melvin Grey]

Thank you both for your constructive comments. This image is literally straight from the RAW conversion with no image 'tweaking' just really to show what the original was like. The left hand antennae is just outside critical sharpness but the d.o.f. from such a rig at f10 is very shallow.
Thanks again.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Melvin welcome to macro - a great start, very good focus minor issue over DOF but a very pleasing image, you are certainly one up on me I have used my 500 with 1.4x but not the 2x TC. I like the composition, the green leaves are perhaps a little dominant I would perhaps consider toning them down and or desaturating them just a little.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Melvin, your "macro"combo delivers some sweet IQ! Good advice on colors and comp already given. I find that the long telelenses are very good for shooting larger insects such as butterflies and dragonflies that can fill the frame. If you like shooting BIF, you should try your hand at shooting dragonflies in flight. Your combo should be up to the challenge.

[Arthur Morris]

Now that is a subject in pristine condition. Love the EXP and SH. Some of the background leaves (esp. llc) are a distraction. Some BKGR/clean-up work could make this a wall hanger if that is your cup of tea.