Butterfly

[Diane Miller]

No idea what it is. Found it while looking for dragonflies. Canon 7D2, 100-400 II at 400, ISO 400, 1/1600 at f/8. Handheld. Getting the wings more in the plane of focus ruined the BG. Several attempts at getting focus on the wingtips (for a focus stack) by rocking back and forth didn't succeed. Neither did going vertical to include more of the grass. I was in an awkward position on a gravel slope and didn't care to go for a swim.

[Randy Stout]

Diane:

Because the head and antennae are sharp, as well as the rear wing, I didn't notice the OOF ant. wings on first look, which is good.
Nicely exposed.

Mixed feelings about the black fuzz. Interesting forms in the perch.

Cheers

Randy

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Diane,
Very pretty subject - maybe some kind of checkered Skipper but I am not sure. Skippers are tough to catch with open wing so I think you did pretty well here albeit the right wing is not completely sharp. Pretty BG.

Allen

[Warren Spreng]

Nice Diane! I like the subtle colors on the body and a nice pose and perch. I might try to clone out the OOF threads below the butterfly, I'm fine with the threads above that are in focus.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Looks like a skipper to me we have chequered skippers but the wing pattern is different to this. I like the image the right wing tip is a bit out but I am more than compensated by the natural looking appearance of the image.

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Sharp where it needs to be, interesting perch, wished the oof plant on the left was not there, but this is real world. Nice image.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks everyone!

But it doesn't have to be the real world these days! I could easily remove that grass head.... And now I'm wondering if my attempts to shoot a vertical gave me material to composite more of the grass head at the top. It's not that great an image but I may play with it after Osprey season. I'm obsessed just now.

[Steve Maxson]

Yup, a Skipper. (small, short wings, fat bodies) I agree with Allen - this looks like one of the Checkered Skippers (Pyrgus sp.). My reference book says there are 8 species in the U.S. and they are hard to tell apart. Good suggestions above, already. I would vote to evict the OOF grass in the background plus the thread-like material - and maybe consider a vertical comp. :S3:

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, Steve! I've keyworded this with the ID, and pulled it into my "For Work" collection in Lightroom and will play with it asap. (I love the Collections feature -- so convenient.) I got a halfway nice composition with a vertical that includes all the grass stalk, but with a burst I got some both wingtips in focus but not a sharp body. That was a poor substitute for a tripod in this case.