The zebra look
Nov, 2010Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was captured at my home garden in Miami, Florida. It was on a Sunday, June the 27th 2010. The Miami climate is a blessing for those of us who like having a small tropical paradise around the house. I have learned to select, plant and grow specific flowers that butterflies find attractive. This beauty is the "Heliconius charitonius", known as the Zebra Heliconian. What an amazing gift from Mother Nature is to see some of her most delicate and beautiful creatures visiting our home.Time
This Sunday, after the much anticipated and enjoyed cup of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee, I went outside and stood in the garden for a while. It was about 9.30 in the morning and not much was happening in the neighborhood except for the butterflies. I went for the camera inside the house and when I came back out I shot, literally, hundreds of images of various bees and butterflies until close to 11.00 am. This was the best shot and it was taken at 10.31 am.Lighting
This day was a typical Florida Summer day, skies very blue and clear. Excellent sun light with very few shade parts in the garden. I decided to use the automatic settings in the camera since the day seemed perfect in its light. Also set the Sports Mode for subject movement. The Auto Sports Mode corresponds to the equivalent of ISO 400 and 1/800 sec f5.6, 250mm.Equipment
The camera was a Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS. The lense was the Canon Telephoto Zoom Lense, EF-S 55-250 mm IS. No tripod or flash was used.Inspiration
The inspiration behind the butterflies I have taken was a set of challenging years in my life. From 2008 until 2014 I was the main caregiver to my Mom. She was diagnosed with a combination of Dementia an Alzheimer diseases. I was pretty much confined at home taking care of her needs. I missed going out with my camera. My life was on hold for these years. No regrets. It was a privilege taking care of Mom. She passed away in 2014 and I still miss her every single second of my life. Since I could not go outdoors and shoot what I liked, I had to find things that were beautiful and worth photographing around myself, in the home and around the house. The garden my Mom started over twenty years ago and that I now so much nurture became the perfect place.Editing
There was no post processing for this image. As is. Uploaded to the websites with a 4499 X 3000 size. This is the one I most commonly prefer for up to 24 X 30 poster sizes.In my camera bag
My bag has an upgraded Canon, this time Rebel T5, 18MP and two Canon Telephoto Zoom lenses 55-250 and 75-300Feedback
I am a self taught photographer. If you like photography just start taking pictures. The more you take, the more you will learn what to do and not to do, what your style is, what you like and what you are good at. Start with a basic camera so when you start upgrading to better ones you will know what you really need. Always keep the old ones because they all have a teaching lesson. Be proud of your good images, show them off, brag about them, and appreciate those who are not so perfect because you have learned from them. If you cannot go in search of your image, look around you, in your home, around the house, among your friends and in every corner of your daily whereabouts. Beauty exists in every corner of your world. You will learn to see it. Beauty and art are always around us. The world becomes an incredible place when you start looking at it through your lenses. Do not imitate, be yourself.
