A Heliconius butterfly feeds on a flower on a hot summer day.
Tag Archives: butterfly
Blue and Brown Clippers
These two butterflies are called the Blue clipper and the Brown clipper.
The Tiny Atala
One of the smaller butterflies I have photographed over the years as well as one of the toughest. The Atala butterfly is about the size of a quarter, and its deep black color makes it hard to show detail.This one kindly sat for several exposures.
The Painted lady
The painted lady butterfly has always been one of my favorites, but I do not see as many of them as I did years ago. This one was the only one I saw all day last week, and while it’s not my best shot,it’s the most recent. Anyone interested in doing this type of shot should do their best to get the head sharp. This shot is barely acceptable, as he was turning away from me while I was focusing. If the wings are sharp and not the head,forget it. Its like doing a portrait of a person and having their hair sharp and not their eyes. Little things like that make or break a shot.
Malachite Butterfly
This malachite butterfly seems precariously perched on this plant,but he was at a perfect angle to get a pleasing shot.
Common Lacewing Butterfly
Purple flowers provide the perfect backdrop for this common lacewing butterfly.
Golden butterfly
This is yet another butterfly image from last week. No clue what it is,but a real beauty for sure.
Banded Orange Butterfly
Another butterfly image featuring a banded orange butterfly on what I think are zinnias. Photographed with a 105 macro lens and flash. I generally try to balance the ambient light with the flash to avoid black backgrounds.
Flights of Fancy
The next week or so will include random posts featuring butterflies that I shot in the last few days. This one is called a citrus swallowtail.
Common Blue Morpho
This butterfly is beautiful on the outside, but you should see the vivid blue color when it opens.Shot handheld with a 105 micro lens and flashes on a bracket
Malachite on Flower
This Malachite butterfly sat long enough for me to get parallel to his wings and get the shot.For anyone wanting to do these type of shots, get as parallel as possible to get maximum sharpness and use flash to freeze motion. I see so many people shooting at whatever angle they feel like and then they get a sliver of acceptable sharpness due to depth of field limitations. This was shot around f16.
Donald Reese Photography 