Pearly Light
Oct, 2014Views
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Awards
Winner in Textures in light Photo Challenge
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Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Superior Skill
Peer Award
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Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at an indoor butterfly sanctuary. When you live in the desert, its quite a refreshing experience to see something so colorful and walk through a place full of lush green foliage, mist floating through the air and hundreds upon hundreds of butterflies freely flitting about the entire place. Its like..walking in to real life mirage!Time
This shot was taken straight-up mid-day. I was fortunate to catch this butterfly sitting at the highest point of this stem, directly under a beam of light.Lighting
I had spent hours walking around the paths inside the sanctuary. Some paths I retraced, but each time would see something different. Different butterflies seem to come out at certain times. By around lunch time, the desert sun was beating down, straight from overhead, its rays beaming straight through the transparent roof of the sanctuary. I found this intriguing since normally, mid-day sun... especially in the desert, is often too harsh to capture a good shot. But, when I saw this butterfly in the light, all the shadows below her, I thought it was a perfect shot for "breaking the rules" of photography.Equipment
This shot was taken with my Nikon D5300, the standard kit lens and no tripod (butterflies move around too much to have time to mess around with trying to set up peripheral gear). I don't do well with flash shots, I find them too harsh and intrusive. And I don't have any diffusers or the like. In this case, I felt how unfair it must be to the sharp eyes of a butterfly to have a stark flash of light go off in its face. The flash on my camera was set to go off, simply so I could try and trick the camera's brain in to finding the finest details. But, just before I pulled the trigger, I used my other hand, cupped over the hood of the flash and pushed it closed. This is a technique I use often now. Odd, but in lacking fancy equipment, works well for me.Inspiration
At the moment something captures my eye, its like I zero in on the subject and pretty much everything around just goes in to suspended animation for me. When I saw this butterfly actually sit still a moment, right on the top of this stem, the way the light came down over her, it was as if that single frame became an entire story book. Even after I took the shot, she remained on the stem. That gave me a moment to appreciate her just as she was.Editing
I use digital imagery software in my job. So editing photos to the hilt can be pretty easy for me. But, when I am photographing, I don't want it to feel like I have to "work" on my photos. I prefer it when I can get a shot that takes little to no processing as possible. That's simply a personal challenge I use to keep pushing myself to improve my photography. Fortunately, with the excellent technology and digital software we have today, a bit of editing can always be done to most any photo and still have it come out clean and not overly-processed. I have a variety of software I use to clean up an image as it may be needed. If I got a good shot, then the rest I leave to the photo to speak its story.In my camera bag
Just my Nikon D5300 and the lens kit it came it with. Oh yeah.. and the lens cap and a cloth to clean the lens (gets pretty dusty here in the desert). I don't like feeling overwhelmed if I have too much gear to think about. I suppose I figure... if my eyes see something and it moves me, than I should be able to capture the same thing with just my camera. I'm sure I still have a lot to learn and my bag will grow over time.Feedback
Same thing I have always said... "The eyes are merely a translator of the heart". If it moves you the moment you see it, then you can bet it's a good shot. Don't just capture the shot.. capture the story of the moment.
