Painted Lady
A painted lady butterfly feeding on a buddleia flower
A painted lady butterfly feeding on a buddleia flower
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NIKON D7000
Aperture f/5.6 ISO 400 Shutter 1/800 Focal Length 5000/10 
Euxton, Lancashire, GB
Jul, 2019Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in my back garden, as i mainly shoot wildlife finding subjects in the garden gives me more time to get the image I am looking for.Time
As photography is only really a hobby, and working full time as well, finding subjects in the garden means I can still do some photography each day. This image is an example of that and it was taken at around 6pm on a sunny summers day. When the butterfly first appear they are only really around when the weather is really warm but as summer continues they are active as soon as the temperature is warm enough until the sun goes down.Lighting
As the light was still quite harsh due to the summer sun I tried to find a subject that was in the shade. Doing this allowed me to capture the detail in the butterfly without too much contrasting light and shadows.Equipment
This was shot with a Nikon D7000 with a Nikon 200-500mm f5.6 lens. It was handheld so no other equipment was needed. The butterflies are usually quite active and using a tripod can make it difficult to compose an image.Inspiration
I grow Buddleia plants in the garden to attract butterflies. They attract many varieties with Painted Lady butterflies being one of the more stunning. This makes them an obvious subject to photograph. Rather than going for a macro lens which might be some peoples first choice, I find my Nikon 200-500mm ideal for close up work of subjects around this size. I can use the lens at 500mm and be just over 2 meters away. This allows me to fill the frame and also keep enough distance to not scare the subject away. The compression from using a telephoto also give the images a different look.Editing
Very little processing was done. I always shoot RAW and use Adobe Lightroom for 99% of my normal processing. For this image the white balance was set, the crop was adjusted. The highlights, shadows, vibrancy and clarity were adjusted to give the image the look I wanted. I also apply a small amount of masked sharpening. The final image then gets exported as a jpeg.In my camera bag
I always carry one camera body which at the time was a Nikon D7000 (I now also use a D7500). My main lens is always my Nikon 200-500mm f5.6 when shooting wildlife. For wildlife I occasionally use a Nikon 300 f4, Sigma 105mm f2.8 macro, Sigma 70-200 f2.8 and also a Nikon 18-105mm. I do use a tripod when I know I will be in one place but find then quite restrictive for work like this. With the vibration reduction on the 200-500 i also find I can get sharp images down to about 1\60 second hand held if the subject is still so like to mainly work without one. I do often use a beanbag if working from a hide.Feedback
my biggest tip for any wildlife is to always try and be at eye level with your subject. This adds impact to your images. You then need to try and avoid any harsh light and try different compositions until you get the image you are looking for.
