Normally, I would post the whole butterfly; but since I've posted several of these butterflies whole, I though I'd let you see the closeup detail.This White Peacock is sipping nectar from a Shephards Needle flower. They seem to really like this particular nectar because I see many White Peacocks sipping the nectar of this wild flower. When I made this photo, there were four of these butterflies that I was following. Lucky for me that this one decided to come close enough for me to capture him like this.
Settings used to make this image: This was shot at around 8:30 in the morning in my back yard, while the sun was fairly low in the sky and bathing everything in that warm light. I chose and ISO of 1/400 to arrest any movement at the time of shooting, which gave me a nice, 1/2000th shutter speed at F5.6. I chose F 5.6 because the background was pretty busy and I wanted to ensure none of it would detract from the butterfly and the flower. Exposure compensation was set to 0. I used partial metering and my 55-250mm lens at its full length. Usually it's undesirable to use your lens fully extended and wide open. But in this case, it worked out well for me. In post processing, I cropped the image to give you all a close view and slightly burned in the petals of the flower in a couple of small spots where they lost detail.
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2 comments:
Loyce, the WOW effect is huge on this shot. Close-up is powerful to the senses and in this photo you show us something we rarely get to see. It's thrilling to see such detail, pattern, and texture. Thanks for another great photograph and an explanation of how you achieved it!
You're welcome, Margo, and thank you for your very nice comment. I put the detailed explanation in hopes that people will learn from the tips. It seems my students are learning, because their photography is improving and they've mentioned the little tips I'm giving them. I guess it's worth the extra effort. :)
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