Thanks for the compliments and comments, Dean. I was very happy with
the shot of the American Lady. But, as you say, it is all at the whim
of the insect. My old Braun flash unit has a high trigger voltage, and
I have never felt the need to buy a modern unit. Besides, at the
distances I usually shoot, most flash units would cook the insect.
The other challenge was to get a clear shot when the Lady tried to keep
branches between her position and mine. I was very lucky with this shot.
I didn't try too hard with the Tiger, because I have good images from
past years, such as this one from last summer.
http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Tiger+Swallowtail.JPG.html
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
On 7/14/2016 7:50 AM, Dean Hansen wrote:
Jim N. posted:
I reworked the ETS image, as you suggested. I also cropped it a little
tighter. I replaced the earlier image, at the same link. Thanks for the
help.
http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Eastern+Tiger+Swallowtail.TIFF.html
This shot illustrates the major effect that oblique light has on
getting the best from a butterfly photo. Look at the right forewing on
this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail--it's "alive," it's obviously not a simple
flat structure. Contrast the right forewing with the left one. The left
forewing is "dead," it's simply a study in black and yellow. Moose noted
this with Jim's shot of the American Lady: "The side light...[has] done a
wonderful job of capturing the texture of the wing surface." Here it looks
like the light is coming from 1 o'clock. The texture of the wing would
have been shown even more had the light been coming from 11 o'clock.
Sometimes
one simply has to take what Nature offers. But I like to use a flash when
shooting butterflies, and I try, if there's time, to get the light from
the flash skimming the butterfly's wings at a low angle, and at 90 degrees
from the direction of the wing veins. An axial flash doesn't do anything
for butterflies. And sunlight is a crapshoot. And butterflies don't
always hold a pose. So keep shooting, and posting, Jim!
Dean
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