Because the coneflower petals were closer to the flash than the butterfly, they were slightly brighter than I wanted. I used a Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX II Flash with a camera exposure that balanced the ambient background lighting. Fortunately, I had taken multiple photos and was able to add a small strip to the right side of this image, with ideal wing position, from one of the others for a 52.9 megapixel final image size. The result in this case was that the butterfly's antenna was slightly closer to the right edge of the frame than I wanted. I'm still struggling to retrain my brain to frame slightly wider with the extreme resolution of the Canon EOS 5Ds R available, allowing minor cropping to achieve perfect framing during post processing. In this case, the spangled fritillary butterfly was quite tolerant of my presence and I was able to utilize the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro Lens at a close distance. Longer focal lengths permit longer working distances. Most macro lenses work well for flowers, but butterflies are sometimes not comfortable with a lens close to them. A raised planting box offers a similar advantage. Because these flowers are planted on a bank, I can shoot horizontally across the flower tops (to get blurred blooms in the background) without lying on the ground. The shape of the flower permits full view of the butterfly and the working area keeps the butterfly busy long enough to get the photo. Alternatively, find a public garden.Ĭoneflowers are one of my favorite flowers and a small garden of them behind the house provided hours of distraction (I mean "gear evaluation") for me this summer. Find someone who has this passion and share your photography passion with them in the form of images and prints. Planting flowers that attract butterflies takes advantage of both and planting them in your yard means fast access to these great subjects.ĭon't have a garden of your own? Don't want to do the work? Others love gardening. The purple color borders/frames the cream/white color.Ī small but strong storm moves off the coast of Acadia National Park / Mt Dessert Island, Maine, USA producing a rainbow for all to see.įew natural subjects surpass flowers and butterflies in colorfulness. In this position, the attached FlashBender Softbox protruded out over the end of the lens to provide a broad overhead light on the flower, creating nice soft lighting without harsh shadows.įrom a compositional standpoint, I positioned the flower so that the lines of the petals would radiate into the picture from a point about 1/3 of the way into the frame from both the bottom and right. Creating this light with an on-camera Speedlite is a challenge that is perhaps best-met with a Rogue FlashBender Softbox.įor this photo, a Canon 600EX-RT was mounted with its head in the forward position. This shot was taken handheld at 1/25 and near 1:1 / 1x magnification thanks to IS.Ĭreating a soft, even light on a close subject such as this one is a challenge that is often best-met by a small softbox positioned just outside of the frame. The benefits of the narrow aperture are a faster shutter speed (it was extremely windy at the time of this shot) and a completely-blurred background. Careful alignment of the leaf is necessary to keep an adequate portion of the subject in focus. The frost creates a sharp contrast with the dark red leaf and the very dark background.Īn f/2.8 aperture yields a very thin DOF at this short focus distance. This fall-colored leaf is covered in hoar frost. The camera position is such that the entire length of wings falls into the plane of sharp focus. IS helped me frame the shot precisely, tightly and kept the shot sharp at 1/50 sec. This shot made great use of the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens' image stabilization. This Polyphemus Moth has not taken its first flight yet, and with perfect wings, required almost no post processing. The Polyphemus Moth is very beautiful - especially when they are just out of their cocoon. I immediately went into action-photography mode and timed the shutter to include the spider in a balanced composition. I was shooting this Helleborus flower in my studio when the spider climbed out of its hiding spot and raced across the leaf. For macro shots, a narrow aperture is needed to keep a significant portion of the subject in focus. This naturally-lit fall crocus was captured handheld.
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