Macro and Flora Image of the Week for the week ending April 19th, 2013: Melvin Grey - Red Admiral Butterfly

Congratulations Melvin!

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.

Incredible!! Love it, and moreso that you were able to salvage the day with what would be considered by many as not the most ideal equipment at hand.

Congratulations Melvin! Well deserved recognition for a beautiful image!

Thank you very much for your comments - particularly as it was my first posting to this Forum - I just thought it was funny ending up with a butterfly when I was hunting shorebirds!!

Congrats Melvin the colors rock here