Pierre Williot
March 2025 - Zebra Longwing butterfly (Heliconius charitonius)
About the Image(s)
Here I used my hand-held OM-1 Mark II camera with a OM 150-400mm TC lens to capture this single image indoors in January 2025 at the Butterfly Conservancy in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada (1/125 sec, f/4.5, Iso 1,600). Processing: slight cropping and light adjustments (global) using ON1 Photo Raw
When I collected this image, it was a very cold winter day but the inside the Butterfly conservancy, it was very hot and humid. A nice break, except that one needs to wait a while for the cold camera equipment to warmup to the new environment! (better not to dismount the lens from the camera during that time … One has also to remember to bring lens cloth!).
This round’s discussion is now closed!
6 comments posted
What an interesting and fun capture. I love the simplicity of this presentation with the single stem and flower augmenting the view of the critter. The butterfly is nicely shown and is enhanced by the clean background. To my eye the background does appear a bit bright and makes it a bit difficult to focus upon the main subject. This is a subtle effect but it struck me when I first opened the image. Here I might suggest darkening the background and stem slightly. The butterfly is slightly soft as well, perhaps due to the wide-open aperture (f/4.5) employed in this shot. Luckly this can be remedied using one of the current sharpening applications (I used Topas Sharpen AI), and it appeared to work well. Note though, when I did this, I needed to sharpen different areas of the butterfly independently to balance out the sharpening effect.). I have included a version here which illustrates my thoughts. Posted: 03/06/2025 11:16:06
Hi Charles,
Thanks for the suggestions and demonstration. Posted: 03/17/2025 15:12:49
Thanks for the suggestions and demonstration. Posted: 03/17/2025 15:12:49
Hi Pierre: I have photographed in a butterfly exhibit and it is not the easiest venue to work in. You did well to share this interesting butterfly image with us. Using a tripod here is impossible as you always have someone kicking a tripod leg.
Depth of field is somewhat shallow in the picture, you do not mention if you were zoomed out to 400mm or not; if you were at 400mm and f/4.5 aperture your depth of field would be very shallow.
A neat image with the butterfly and blue flower. Posted: 03/06/2025 15:22:51
Depth of field is somewhat shallow in the picture, you do not mention if you were zoomed out to 400mm or not; if you were at 400mm and f/4.5 aperture your depth of field would be very shallow.
A neat image with the butterfly and blue flower. Posted: 03/06/2025 15:22:51
Hi Murphy,
It is not easy to be surrounded by lots of people, especially children are running around! It is not practical in this environment to use a tripod, nor a monopod.
Always a question of compromise! I was already down to 1/125 sec, and preferred not to raise my ISO to allow a higher f/stop. My fault. Next time, I will accept more noise.
Thanks for your comments. Posted: 03/17/2025 15:17:23
It is not easy to be surrounded by lots of people, especially children are running around! It is not practical in this environment to use a tripod, nor a monopod.
Always a question of compromise! I was already down to 1/125 sec, and preferred not to raise my ISO to allow a higher f/stop. My fault. Next time, I will accept more noise.
Thanks for your comments. Posted: 03/17/2025 15:17:23
With the current denoise applications, it's now more effective than ever to remove noise. So, accepting more noise in order to gain greater depth of field and/or sharpness may be the compromise in today's world, as long as you are willing to do a bit of post processing. The resharpen applications are nowhere as effective in bring back sharpness (regardless of the examples software vendors tend to show), so do what is needed to ensure sharpness, and deal with the other effects as they arise. Posted: 03/17/2025 17:17:47
Pierre...This is a lovely shot of a butterfly and flower and the composition of being attached to the purple flower. I think you captured this nicely!!! Good color and clarification.
If you ever get down to Texas, go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science Center and visit the Cockrell Butterfly Center. It was worth the trip. The butterfly center is a three story all glass dome that has waterfalls and every variety of butterfly you can imagine. Weddings are held there due to its beauty. Posted: 03/26/2025 02:59:07
If you ever get down to Texas, go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science Center and visit the Cockrell Butterfly Center. It was worth the trip. The butterfly center is a three story all glass dome that has waterfalls and every variety of butterfly you can imagine. Weddings are held there due to its beauty. Posted: 03/26/2025 02:59:07