Butterfly

[Ian Cassell]

Taken at the Butterfly Farm, St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles. Sorry -- I don't know the species.

Canon 7D
Canon 100/2.8 Macro
1/640 sec f/9 ISO 400

Canon 430 EX + homemade diffuser mounted on camera (piece of translucent white kitchen chopping mat from Target ... velcro glued on edges ... on Better Beamer frame in place of Fresnel lens)
Handheld
Crop for composition, sharpening in CS5


113989

[Jerry van Dijk]

Nice one, Ian! I believe this is Colobura dircoïdes (no English common name) from Costa Rica. I've seen (and photographed) it in another butterfly garden. The image seems a little on the yellow side. The bluish cast on the wings seems to be natural, my image of this species has it too. The square crop suits the butterfly well.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for the ID and critique, Jerry. I'm working on my laptop, so will hold off going crazy with color balance until I'm back home. The butterfly garden here is beautiful with a large number of species. Unfortunately, it is never cool enough here (at least when the place is open) for them to calm down and sit still for a portrait!

[Bob Miller]

HI Ian....wonderfully sharp image of an amazing butterfly . I like your composition and the lighting looks good to me!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Ian, I know what you mean! One trick is to find out where the feeders are. You'll often find a few butterflies perching close by. Or try to find flowers that they feed on and just wait for a while. Alternatively, you could try for a BIF! I'll try and post an image from my last visit to a butterfly garden.

[Ian Cassell]

Yes. At least at the one in Phoenix, if you get there early enough, they are relatively quiescent. Unfortunately, the feeders here aren't very nice looking (I have some images of them perched, but don't like them). I'll be back to the garden before I leave the island and see what else I can get. There are some gorgeous large metallic blue ones, but they don't sit still!

[PhilCook]

Stands out well with the black background, color detail is excellent

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Ian. This is a very nice specimen giving you a good pose and you nailed the focus! The black background isn't my personal favorite for daytime photos, but that's a matter of taste - and it can be problematic to avoid when using one flash as main light. :S3: This is nicely done!

[Ken Childs]

Hey Ian, nice pose, light looks good, sharpness good throughout....it all looks good from this end! I can understand why some people don't like a black BG but personally I do like it....no distractions so all focus is on the beautiful 'fly!