Common Buckeye Butterfly

[Allen Sparks]

Canon 40D, Sigma 150mm macro, Tamron 1.4 Pro Teleconverter
ISO 400, 1/100, f11, hand held, natural light

[Julie Kenward]

I love buckeye's, Allen, as they are one of the easiest butterflies to identify and also to see when out in the field and you got a beauty here. The butterfly looks very nice and is in relatively good shape (was this early in the season?) I do think compositionally it could be a little stronger if you gave it a tilt so the bottom of the butterfly was more towards the LRC and the head was aiming towards the ULC - that would give the head a little more breathing room at the top of the frame and give you a nice diagonal for the eyes to scan across.

You could maybe go with a touch more sharpening on the butterfly as well but just a little - enough to make all those little hairs pop a tiny bit more might be nice. Lovely image, overall.

[Ramesh Adkoli]

A beautiful image, Allen. Those eyes on its wing have come out very nicely. Can you elaborate on how you approached the butterfly? Did you park at a flower and wait for it? Would love to know. I never seem to be able to get close to one. TFS.

regards,
ramesh

[Arthur Morris]

Yes to beautiful and to a loverly specimen and to a bit more sharpening. Love the colors and patterns. Would love a bit more room all around and if you pulled back bit to do that you would get a bit more d-o-f. It looks as if you did not quite parallel the subject perfectly with the left upper wing being a tad closer than the right upper wing.

Lastly you could lose the tiny white spot on the left lower wing and the few on the thorax.

[Allen Sparks]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions...I'll have to try some roomier perspectives next season.

Julie, this was taken in September so I was just fortunate this cooperative one was in such good shape.

Ramesh, I wouldn't say that I picked out a flower and parked there so much...but rather went to a garden where there were alot of flowers blooming and bringing in lots of butterflies. I then looked for a butterfly that was showing signs of staying still long enough for me to approach. This particular one stayed put a fairly long time and let me get up close as you can see. I rarely get a chance of a real up close shot on these guys and may have overdone it per the others' comments. Bottom line, I tend to stalk my butterflies in areas where there are alot of flowers to bring them in (fortunately often in my own backyard) and look for calm, perching behavior in deciding which ones to pursue. hope that helps...

[Peter Farrell]

Allen, a very nice Common Buckeye specimen with good details throughout. I just started taking macro images last year and have the same tendency to fill the frame with the BF. I am definetly learning a lot here on BPN.
Peter

[Charles Wesley]

Allen,

This is very nice. Like the yellow on buckeye blending with the yellow zinnia.
Thanks for sharing...
____________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

[Ramesh Adkoli]

Thanks Allen for a detailed response on your technique. Appreciate that. Will try it out on the next opportunity:)

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Allen, nice butterfly! Might have gone for a faster shutter speed, it's not as sharp as it could have been. Not sure if the DOF allowed it though.
Tip for Ramesh: don't use a macro lens but a big telelens. I've captured most of my butterfly shots at 500mm (see http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=51238 and http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21255). Most butterflies are big enough to fill a considerable part of the frame and you create enough working distance not to scare them. Combined with Allens tips for approach should get you on your way to some nice shots!

[Mike Moats]

Hey Allen, a lot as already been said, so not much more to add other then I agree with Jules on the tilt of the subject.

[Vida van der Walt]

All the suggestions have been made. I just wanted to add my well done on a very nice image.:)