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there's an idea fixed in my mind;if it's possible to nphotographer birds,also dragonflies (see some images in the forum), why not photograph butterflies when flying? in europe butterflies don't gather as does the monarchs!
All my trials in the last weeks have been unsuccessfull with 70 mm Sigma. yes, to use high shutter speed ... what kind of focal lenght would you counsel? Does anyone in the forum has experience in the matter? Thank you.
Hi ValerioMuch to difficult for me, if you find a way please let me know :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Valerio Tarone
I think you have to play around until you find something that works for you, however here is what I do that you could try if you want... I use a 105mm macro lens for butterflies and dragonflies but find that you have to get to near the subject with it (a 180 macro lens would be better) and therefore I frighten the subject away :( your 70 mm will be worse in this respect. However I use an extension tube with the 105mm macro lens which gives me a greater working distance for any given magnification and therefore I dont frighten the subject quite so often. I mainly hand hold and use ISO 400 and f11 or f16 to get a bit of depth of field, if that doesnt give me a fast enough shutter speed I will give up for the day :) I also do not use auto focus and manually get a reasonable focus and then fine tune it by leaning my body (and therefore the camera) slightly nearer or further away to get the focus exactly where I want it. I still get lots of images where the focus is out, especially if there is a light wind (I never try macro with high winds, its just impossible) but this system works for me :) HTH :) TellQuote:
Originally Posted by Valerio Tarone
Valerio,
I have found that rather than using a macro, I have better luck with butterflies by using a medium telephoto that has a close minimum focus. Nowadays my lens of choice for butterflies is the Nikkor 70-300 VR. The auto focus on this lens is relatively fast and it will focus down to around 5 ft. At 300mm this gives a pretty good image size and the VR capability aids in hand-holding. The way most butterflies flit around pretty much eliminates the use of a tripod and makes hand-holding a necessity. I have found that I get best results by filling about half of the frame with the butterfly and then cropping the image for composition. If you try to fill more of the frame with the butterfly, then the flight is so erratic, especially if the wind is blowing, that it is very difficult to keep from clipping part of the butterfly.
I have attached an image that I capture a couple of months ago. I assume this was some kind of mating ritual because the one butterfly kept following the other. Here are the details on the image.
Camera -- Nikon D3
Lens -- Nikkor 70-300 VR
Meter -- Aperture Priority
Shutter speed -- 1/640th of a second
Aperture -- 9
Compensation -- - 1/3 stop
ISO -- 400
Focus -- Single Point continuous
Hope this helps.
Emory
Thank you both, Emery and Tell,
I'll try my 300 mmAF f4 at iso 400 and I'll buy, before or after, the extension tubes.
