Fritillary butterfly on thistle flower


I love this shot!  It is rare to get so many things coming together the right way the moment a shutter is released.  As a nature photographer, capturing such an image is the reward of much time and effort.  It is the culmination of years of experience, obtaining the right equipment, knowing how to use it, and being at the right place at the right time.  

Photographing butterflies has many challenging aspects to it.  They tend to be easily startled; getting close enough to one to render a decent image requires a degree of luck, patience, and skill.  There is the direction that light comes from.  Using a macro flash helps but paying attention to the sun's position is an important component.  There is the position of the butterfly.  I find being perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body often results in the best shots.  The problem is they are always moving and are only in position for the merest of moments.  Then there is wing position, extension of proboscis, having a decent flower that is neither too big nor too small, and an attractive, well-lit background.   

I photographed this at Two-jack Lake in Banff, Alberta this summer.  My macro images are often taken with a macro lens and flash; in this case, I was using my 500mm wildlife lens. and shooting it at its absolute minimum range.  The f/10 aperture allowed for enough depth of field to get the butterfly and flower all in focus while still allowing a nicely blurred background.  And, at 1/500th of a second, the fast shutter speed prevented any blur from subject motion from becoming an issue.  

I approached the subject with the sun behind me to take advantage of the good lighting and limited shadow presence.  Moving slowly so as not to startle the insect, I approached with my eye to my camera's viewfinder and finger on the shutter release locking focus in with each step.  I took many photos of the scene and concluded the series when I felt I had gotten everything I could.  We departed, the butterfly and I, and went our separate ways.  We both achieved our goals; I got a nice photo and it a nice meal.  

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I found a black widow spider in a plant pot today

Image
The spider I found is a western black widow spider, one of three species of black widow that occur in North America.  The fact that this one has another red patch on the back of its abdomen above the spinnerettes tells us that it is an immature individual. The one thing that people know about black widow spiders is that they are extremely poisonous.  Their venom is something like 15x more toxic than that of a rattlesnake.  The saving grace is that there is very little venom injected from a black widow bite than what a rattlesnake can deliver.   The good news is that black widow bites seldom lead to death.  You are more likely to suffer nausea, muscle pain, and swelling around the bite.  Symptoms usually last only 12 hours or so.  Death may be a result in people with compromised immune systems or in the very young or the elderly.   In 2018, it was reported that there were 1015 cases of people bitten by black widows.  Of those, there ...
Read more

The passing of a generation

Image
Kathryn's mom and dad with our children, Josh and Leanne. A generation, for North America, tends to be between 20 and 30 years.  During that time a couple will give birth and raise children to see them repeat the pattern as they themselves have done.  Each generation has its own set of standards, values, and ideals based upon their experiences and culture, and some of that is passed down to their offspring.  What changes are the life experiences of the following generation and the new customs and ideals that are blended together as a couple becomes a family. Kathryn's mom passed away a few days ago, she was predeceased by her husband several years ago.  Both of them were the grandparents of my children, the mother and father of my wife, Kathryn.  It was my pleasure to know them and to love them as my own, for to me they were Mom and Dad.  And they were there to welcome my children into the world just as my children were with them in spirit when they left it...
Read more

Hang in there, things will get better.

Image
The Svendsen Family - Eric, Samuel, Leanne, Joshua (top row), Nora, Kathryn, Chanelle, Emma If I could go back, in my mind, to a day in my life when I was really down, it would be nice to be able to see into the future.  If could see things as they are today, with the many blessings that have been given to me, it would give me hope knowing that things wouldn't always be so discouraging.   The message here is we do not know what the future holds.  When things are bad, it is hard to raise your head out of the mire to see beyond the darkness.  There are no guarantees, of course, that things will be better, but I think it is true that fortunes ebb and flow as tides do.  The trick is to see beyond the low points and not be too haughty during the high ones.  I know that, at this moment, things are very good.  What the future holds is unknown, but low and high points are likely in the forecast.   This is why taking satisfaction from the moment ...
Read more