A Swallowtail for Ken R...

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twebster
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A Swallowtail for Ken R...

Post by twebster »

Hi y'all, :D

I got to thinking about what Ken R said about swallowtail butterflies being hard to approach and photograph. I took a little time, today, and chased the Giant Swallowtails that frequent the gardens below my apartment...

Image

This was the best image I could come up with after an hour's shooting. Giant Swallowtails flutter constantly while feeding, plus the wind was blowing, so I had to use a higher than normal ISO setting, ISO 400, to obtain a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the fluttering of the wings. That was the least of my problems, though. The butterflies would not let me approach closer than 5 feet. :x My longest lens is my 90mm macro so I added the Kenko 2x teleconverter. Still, 5 feet is still a long way to shoot even a large butterfly. I had to crop the D30 image 50% to get the butterfly this large in the final image.

Enjoy, my friends :!: :D

Canon EOS D30 with 90mm Tamron macro lens and 2x Kenko teleconverter, ISO 400, monopod, no flash.
Tom Webster
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Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

Well your efforts paid off quite nicely Tom, in my opinion. That is an excellent shot. :D Using a fixed lens camera like mine, stealth is even more of challange. :lol:
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S. Alden
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Post by S. Alden »

I love BFs and I have seen a few fluttering around my house, but not many yet.

Beautiful image Tom and it looks like we have BF week, so I have to see what I can find.
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twebster
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Post by twebster »

Thanks my friends, :D

I was going to sneak out this morning before going to work and try to shoot a few more but the wind, yesterday, brought us clouds and unusually cool temperatures. I don't think the butterflies will be flying this morning. :D Shooting these swallowtails makes me wish I had a 300mm lens. It seems like the larger the butterfly the more skittish and harder to approach they become. I guess they offer a bigger target for birds :!: :shock:

Best regards to all as always, :D
Tom Webster
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Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

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nzmacro
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Post by nzmacro »

These are a gorgeous butterfly, just incredible to view M8t. Another we don't have but man, I wish we did. The shape is one of natures beauties and the colours and details are wonderful. Well taken Tom, would love this to be mine, hey I'm aloud to be envious :D

All the best you lot, excellent specimen and shot :wink:

Danny.

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