Be still, my pretty
Butterly sunning on a wild iris. Photographed near St. Johns, Canada.
Butterly sunning on a wild iris. Photographed near St. Johns, Canada.
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Apr, 2017Views
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Beautiful Butterflies Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Outstanding Creativity
Virtuoso
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was shot on a coastal bluff in Newfoundland. I was watching whales off shore, and on the walk back noticed this beautiful butterfly feeding on the wild Iris in the grasses. The light was soft and appealing and so I decided to try to catch this beauty in a photograph. I had a long lens on my camera, which was perfect for photographing the butterfly at a distance.Time
I took this shot around 4:00 in the afternoon--usually not an ideal time to shoot in the summer, but there was a light cloud cover that filtered the sunlight and softened its effect. Tall grasses provided additional shading.Lighting
The butterfly was "playing" in a field of wild iris, some of which were in the sun and some of which were not due to the cloud cover. I knew that I didn't want to photograph the butterfly in direct sun, and after watching its flight pattern for awhile, I identified the patches of grass and flowers that I thought would work best for a soft lighting effect, and aimed my camera there.Equipment
This image was taken with my Nikon d750 and 80-400 f/4.5 lens. This zoom can be handheld and this is a handheld shot. The shutter speed was set quite high because I was tracking the butterfly in motion with the hopes of getting a good motion shot. But in the end, it was a shot of the butterfly landing for a few seconds on a wild iris that I liked the best.Inspiration
The butterfly against the wild iris was captivating and inspired me to take the photo. It created, for me, a wonderful spring mood--fresh, light, airy-- that I wanted to capture.Editing
I cropped the image just a bit, and did my usual small adjustments, including a soft vignette. I wanted this image to feel authentic--not overworked, natural, and even casual because that best captured the mood of the moment.In my camera bag
I usually carry one of my Nikon cameras (DX or FX) and several lenses, including a wide angle, macro, and long zoom. That gives me some flexibility in deciding what to shoot when I am on a hike or visiting a site that has multiple photography opens. My bag also includes a cellphone, snacks, and camera accessories such as cards, batteries, lens cloths, remote release, and rain cover.Feedback
This butterfly was moving quite rapidly, and since I was photographing it in flight most of the time, this required a very fast shutter speed, a higher !SO than I normally like, and a fairly shallow depth of field. I spent some time observing the butterfly before beginning to photograph it and noticed that it was zooming around in a fairly regular pattern, and that helped me to determine focus, angle, light, exposure, etc.
