This cooperative Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) was photographed at a butterfly farm in Florida. Fortunately, it was overcast and I was allowed to use a tripod. 1D 4, 70-300 mm L at 230 mm, 1/60, f/8, ISO 400, live-view focus on the eyes, tripod, mirror lock, cable release, natural light. I removed an OOF plant from the background, cloned over some worn spots on the wings, and ran nr on the background. All comments are welcome and appreciated.
Very nice indeed Steve, I like the composition and the colours, the right wing tip is just a tad OOF or was this where you have been cloning? It is unfortunate the leaf directly behind the lower wing tip is there, other than that a really fine shot.
Very nice indeed, and a lovely, well lighted background. The red at top adds a nice punch of color.
What would you say is your most commonly use aperture for butterflies? I have been all over the place, tending towards f/11 or so now, but curious what your experience has been.
Jon: You are right about the right wing tip - it was outside the DOF at f/8 - I did some extra selective sharpening there to make it look a little better than it did originally.
Randy: I don't think I can say that I have a favorite aperture for butterflies. I looked over some of my recent shots - in some cases f/4.5 was fine and in others f/16 was not enough. I think one needs to evaluate this on a case by case basis depending on the orientation of the butterfly, how far away it is, and the background. Ideally, if you have a cooperative subject (not always the case with butterflies), you could do some experimenting in the field. This is an area where I'm still in a learning mode.