Butterflies - part 2

[Dave Humphries]

This is part 2 of a two part series; part 1 is here.

As mentioned in the previous thread; these were taken in April 2014 at a Butterfly place that has sadly now permanently closed.

1. 'Julia' butterfly

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 70-300mm at 270mm; f/16, 1/1600s, iso 1600, -1 1/3 EC, Aperture Priority (386-7483)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1296px × 950px (recommended)


2. 'Julia' butterfly on Orange, wings open

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 105mm, f/2.8 Macro lens; f/11, 1/500s, iso 1600, -1/3 EC, Aperture Priority (386-7512)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1212px × 950px (recommended)


3. 'Julia' butterfly on Orange, wings closed

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 105mm, f/2.8 Macro lens; f/11, 1/833s, iso 1600, +1/3 EC, Aperture Priority (386-7525)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1201px × 950px (recommended)


4. 'Julia' butterfly on yellow flowers

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 105mm, f/2.8 Macro lens; f/11, 1/400s, iso 1600, -1/3 EC, Aperture Priority (386-7550)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1471px × 950px (recommended)


5. 'Julia' butterfly, feeding from white flower

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 105mm, f/2.8 Macro lens; f/11, 1/833s, iso 1600, -2/3 EC, Aperture Priority (386-7564)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1114px × 950px (recommended)


6. 'Julia' butterfly, close up feeding from white flower

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 105mm, f/2.8 Macro lens; f/11, 1/625s, iso 1600, -2/3 EC, Aperture Priority (386-7555)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1123px × 950px (recommended)


7. 'Julia' butterfly on leaf

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 105mm, f/2.8 Macro lens; f/11, 1/200s, iso 1600, +2/3 EC, Aperture Priority and fill-flash (386-7897)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1282px × 950px (recommended)


8. Tree Nymph butterfly, wings closed

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 105mm, f/2.8 Macro lens; f/11, 1/400s, iso 1600, -1/3 EC, Aperture Priority (386-7631)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 633px × 950px (recommended)


9. Tree Nymph butterfly, wings open

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 105mm, f/2.8 Macro lens; f/11, 1/320s, iso 1600, 0 EC, Aperture Priority (386-7675)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1216px × 950px (recommended)


10. Zebra Longwing butterfly, close up

Nikon D7100 + Nikon 105mm, f/2.8 Macro lens; f/11, 1/100s, iso 1600, +2/3 EC, Aperture Priority (386-7703)
Hit Kbd F11 and click image to see at 1425px × 950px (recommended)

Almost no crop on this one!
There are two more of this species in part 1.


Thanks for looking and commenting.

Cheers, Dave

[NorthernFocus]

Another nice set, Dave. It is disappointing that the place in closed. Looks like an enjoyable spot for a photographer.

[ScoutR]

Dave: These are all Stunning. There is really nothing to critique. Well.... maybe on #7 I might take out the leaves around the edges, but it's really fine the way it is.

I think you said in installment 1 that the sharpness and quality of these images was as much due to PP as it was to the 105 macro lens. I have a butterfly place near me that I visited once a few years ago. You and I have pretty much the same camera. I have the D7000. Do you think with my 55-200 it is possible to get this kind of detail? I would be so thrilled to be able to get shots like this.

Great job, do you have more?

[Shadowman]

Nice follow up series, like the orange base.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice set

[Dave Humphries]

Another nice set, Dave. It is disappointing that the place in closed. Looks like an enjoyable spot for a photographer.

Thanks Dan,

Yes, it is a shame - I was looking to see where the next nearest place to me is.
There is a temporary exhibition about 20 miles away, but that's in its last few days and I suspect they will be running down their 'livestock' by now (and busy).
Failing that, I think there's a butterfly conservatory inside ZSL (London Zoo, Regents Park), but travelling there (with kit) would be challenging - plus there would be a lot of other distractions for the lenses

[DanK]

Very nice series. I am not sure that I am remembering the first set accurately, but these seem sharper than I remember those as being.

[Dave Humphries]

Dave: These are all Stunning. There is really nothing to critique. Well.... maybe on #7 I might take out the leaves around the edges, but it's really fine the way it is.

Thanks Wendy,

I couldn't decide about those, the ones on left would be easy to remove, the overlapping pair on right would require careful attention to the edge of the leaf they touch (and I got lazy)

I might revisit it, but felt just doing the left hand side would unbalance the composition, hence leaving them all in.

I think you said in installment 1 that the sharpness and quality of these images was as much due to PP as it was to the 105 macro lens. I have a butterfly place near me that I visited once a few years ago. You and I have pretty much the same camera. I have the D7000. Do you think with my 55-200 it is possible to get this kind of detail? I would be so thrilled to be able to get shots like this.

#1 in this set was shot with my 70-300mm telephoto at 270mm and was cropped a little more in PP, but it is still a wider shot than the mostly 'frame filling' rest of them; shot with the 100mm Macro.

I just looked through the entire shoot and shot about 80 with the 70-300mm, most at 300mm and minimum focus distance (MFD), I suspected your 200mm at MFD might not give such a close view, but I found a review that suggests the area captured at 200mm and MFD by your lens was about 92mm x 62mm and "on a par with the 70-300mm".

The risk with working with any lens at its MFD is thinking it is focused when it isn't, so if you do try it, I'd suggest using AF-S (single), so you get the beep when focus achieved. I usually shoot AF-C (continuous) and recently fell foul of this.

I'd say give it a go - if nothing else, it might inspire you to get that Macro lens after all

Great job, do you have more?

Yes, "some" (see below), but the angles, poses, backgrounds or technical quality are usually lacking in one or more ways.

Plus there are some almost identical to ones already seen where the only major difference is where the proboscis is sucking from.

I shot well over 300 on the day and ended up with about 170 after deleting the no-hopers.
Graded (approx.):
57 no star
63 one star
36 two star (some shown in these threads)
15 three star (most shown in these threads)

Except now I've started looking at the no stars, I am promoting some

Cheers, Dave

[Dave Humphries]

Thanks John and Binnur,


Hi Dan,

Very nice series. I am not sure that I am remembering the first set accurately, but these seem sharper than I remember those as being.

The first thread is linked from top and bottom of the first post above.

Interesting ... there is a PP difference; in most of the first thread's pictures, I used Smart Sharpen.
These seemed more noisy, so I used USM (on all in this thread) and set the threshold up a bit to avoid sharpening the noise.

I wonder if that's the difference.

Also, As I've done more, other small improvements in my technique have evolved; e.g. I did far more dodging in these, especially the critical areas to ensure good contrast for sharpening to 'lock on' to. As ever; practice makes us better.

Thanks, Dave

[IzzieK]

These are all stunning, Dave! I thought my favourite was the first one because it is red and I like the angle of the shot there, but then the rest of them are very nice too....so can't give an itemized comment nor critique. I love them all.

[rpcrowe]

Really nice images! All of them.

[rpcrowe]

Wendy,

There are several 55-200mm Nikon zoom lenses. I looked up the Nikon AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED Lens on the B&H website and it appears that the maximum reproduction ratio is 1:4.3. In other words, this lens will focus down to cover an area 4.3 times the size of your sensor or 124.7mm (~5 inches) x 184.9mm (~7.28 inches).

This would come close but not quite fill the frame with a very large butterfly. You could increase the maximum reproduction of your lens by: (1) adding an extension tube or (2) using a closeup (filter) lens... In both cases however, you would be giving up the ability to focus at infinity...

[JBW]

WOW!!! They are all great but #7 is my favorite. Once my lenses arrive I will have a lot of work to do to get up to this standard. Well done.

[Dave Humphries]

Thanks Richard and Izzie,

One thing this thread and everyone's feedback has made clear to me is that beyond all the technical aspects of capture and keeping the background simple and non-competing, is that the shots with nice foliage have attracted more favourite votes. e.g. the first here and last in series 1.

Shots of fruit going mouldy are not that appealing to us, but they do attract the butterflies and keep them still while feeding.

Apparently; when the fruit starts to go off, it can lead to 'intoxication' and even more wobbly flight than usual.

[Dave Humphries]

WOW!!! They are all great but #7 is my favorite. Once my lenses arrive I will have a lot of work to do to get up to this standard. Well done.

Yeah, but I know you'll get there Brian.

Thanks, Dave

[Dave Humphries]

Great job, do you have more?

Thanks and yes; Part 3 (of this two part series) is now available here.

Anyone would think I can't count

Cheers, Dave

[IzzieK]

Thanks and yes; Part 3 (of this two part series) is now available here.

Anyone would think I can't count

Cheers, Dave

Sometimes you surprise me...