SWALLOWTAIL GREETINGS
Lovely swallowtail visitor to my garden.
Lovely swallowtail visitor to my garden.
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Aug, 2016Views
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Awards
People's Choice in Butterfly on pretty plant or flower Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Magnificent Capture
Top Choice
All Star
Superior Skill
Outstanding Creativity
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PRL_NaturesMystique
January 20, 2017
Thank you so very much... I greatly appreciate you wonderful words!!!
nandicmb
January 20, 2017
Congratulations on your People's Choice category win in Butterfly on a pretty plant or flower Photo Challenge!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
I captured this beauty in one of my gardens. I was so excited to start the spring out with a new Buddleia davidii (Butterfly Bush). I can't say how thrilled I was to have such a flourishing bush to welcome and foster so many bees and butterflies!!Time
I captured this at approx. 8:00 a.m. right before the early morning light moved direct overhead. Any later would cause extreme glare and contrast bringing about shadows to any small subject.Lighting
The light was still soft yet, bright enough to show all of the lines, colors and textures for this lovely Swallowtail.Equipment
My camera for this image was my Olympus E-5 and the lens I use for most all of my macro photography is the Olympus 50mm f/2.0 Macro Zuiko Digital Lens for Olympus Digital Cameras (Four Thirds System). I used natural lighting and the image was captured handheld.Inspiration
Excitement! I was so pleased to have visitors to the plant and enjoyed the specific beauty of this particular butterfly. It was sitting in such a perfect zone I couldn't help but try my best to capture it's full beauty...Editing
As always, I shoot in raw format and open my images in Adobe Camera Raw. I opted for the image to remain as shot and adjusted the light curve to linear instead of medium contrast that the camera had captured. I felt that lessening the light contrast on the on this particular subject was best served without excessive contrast. Linear contrast allowed the image to present warm tones on the subject and cool tones on the background portion. I am a huge fan of warm and cool lighting and tones combined within a single image. In addition, I work tirelessly at maintaining as much depth of field within these macro shots... That may not always be the case since it is very hard to capture depth since the field is narrowed greatly. I was pleased that my setting and distance from the subject allowed me to be able to maintain good depth.. I feel it is very important when shooting macro photography to be very selective in your backgrounds, i.e. lighting, subject and color.In my camera bag
I am an avid Olympus user. I have never used any other camera brand since I started my photography journey. The E-5 model I presently use is the largest digital camera they have made. I still prefer the full body camera since I shoot handheld and never use a tripod. The extra size of the body offers me great balance in hand and balance in conjunction with the lens sizes. For my upclose and macro photography I use the: Olympus 50mm f/2.0 Macro ED Zuiko Digital Lens for Olympus Digital Cameras (Four Thirds System). For landscape and field work in tight spaces ( those that are not fast wide frame open shots) I prefer my Olympus 12-60mm f/2.8-4 ED SWD Zuiko Lens. This lens also works well on portrait photography and capturing an occasional wild flower or plant while out in the field. For other landscape images and architecture/city photography, I prefer my Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm f/4-5.6 . And for some large open spaces I will defer to the standard Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens. I prefer all of the Zuiko/Olympus lenses for my four-thirds operating system. They are the most optimum and offer a lighter lens weight in comparison to what I noticed across the market. A four-thirds operating system is slightly different than the average DSLR, in that is offers a smaller camera body and smaller equipment to make travel and hiking easy. I also prefer my equipment for its cold climate ability since it gets pretty cold in the Northeast US during winter, I've managed to be out in sub-zero weather without loss of use or battery failure. One other great feature of my equipment is that is dust and waterproof. I mean very waterproof and you can actually submerge the camera and equipment in water for use or cleaning. The lens glass is superior and offers pristine clarity always. Getting smarter about the camera/lens abilities allows you to choose clarity or softness as you desire, like any other camera combination.Feedback
I will always say that there are a selection of the best times to photograph anything. I prefer early morning and late afternoon for flowers and insect photography. The light at that time is very soft and in the afternoon there can actually be a golden warm glow.. It is always possible to use a diffuser if you like however, for insects it is sometimes hard to bring a large shading or diffusing object near your subject without frightening them away.
