Looking Back
Chrysalis & Butterfly: Canon PowerShot S90, hand held
ISO 500; f/8.0, 1/250 sec.
Hydrangea: Nikon D300 w/Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 vr micro lens, hand held
ISO 400; f/3.5, 1/2500 sec; MM -0.67
Standard adjustments in PS CS6.
Before closing the file on my adventure with the Baltimore Checkerspot chrysalis (see post below), I thought I'd put the butterfly and the chrysalis from which it emerged together, in the more attractive setting of the Hydrangea leaf. So yesterday, as I had previously done with the chrysalis, I "extracted" the butterfly image captured at the edge of the pool onto a transparent layer, using Quick Select and Refine Edge in PS CS6. Using Free Transform, I then positioned the two extracted images on my Hydrangea leaf, with the result shown here.
While in the swimming pool photographing the emergent butterfly, I took shots from various angles, and with the wings closed or opened to various degrees. I chose the image you see here, because it shows the difference between the patterns and coloration of the inner and outer surfaces of the wings.
What I find most interesting are the relative sizes of the chrysalis and the butterfly. Nature does a marvelous job of packaging into the chrysalis what will become the butterfly, and then transferring fluids in the emergent butterfly to fill the wings and make the finished product.
Finally, I've learned that the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly is the official Maryland state insect. So for me as a Marylander, this experience has been special.
Your comments and suggestions are as always most welcome.
Norm
