Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus)

[Joseph Przybyla]

Photographed today in my back yard, many tries to get the image I wanted.. This butterfly was recently added to the list of endangered species. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm PF, handheld
1/5000 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 9000 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2022 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jo, I am surprised and somewhat disappointed with your introductory comments mentioning this species is being put on the endangered list. I had the impression that this species was very numerous indeed, what a shame. I would not be surprised if many are killed in the numerous forest fires we are now seeing - worldwide not just in North America.
I like the image the bold colours are beautiful, you have pretty much ideal plane of focus. Pretty good results for ISO 9000, always worthwhile getting in the one for the bank, I would suggest you may well have still gotten sharp results at say 1/1600 to 1/2000 sec and maybe an increase in detail.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Jo, I am surprised and somewhat disappointed with your introductory comments mentioning this species is being put on the endangered list. I had the impression that this species was very numerous indeed, what a shame. I would not be surprised if many are killed in the numerous forest fires we are now seeing - worldwide not just in North America.
I like the image the bold colours are beautiful, you have pretty much ideal plane of focus. Pretty good results for ISO 9000, always worthwhile getting in the one for the bank, I would suggest you may well have still gotten sharp results at say 1/1600 to 1/2000 sec and maybe an increase in detail.

Hi Jon, thank you for viewing and commenting. The fewer numbers of Monarch butterflies is due to a loss of Milkweed plants. This butterfly lays it's eggs on the Milkweed plant and the larvae eat the plant. To try to restore the population of this butterfly people are encouraged to plant Milkweed plants in their gardens. There is a program in Florida to give away the plants to those who would plant them.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jon, thank you for viewing and commenting. The fewer numbers of Monarch butterflies is due to a loss of Milkweed plants. This butterfly lays it's eggs on the Milkweed plant and the larvae eat the plant. To try to restore the population of this butterfly people are encouraged to plant Milkweed plants in their gardens. There is a program in Florida to give away the plants to those who would plant them.

Wow that's encouraging - and good to know, I hope the program initiative is successful.