April 2010 Competition

[Gruditch]

I know looking outside it dosen't feel much like the start of a new season, but this is it!. The April 2010 Competition.

To enter the competition, please post a single image, taken within the month of April 2010 (1 post per member) as follows:

- Click on the "Gallery" link and then open the "April 2010" album
- Click the "NEWIMAGE" button
- Follow the instructions to upload a single image

To view the entries:

- Click on the "Gallery" link and then open the "April 2010" album

You'll be able to edit or delete your entry until 5th May. To do this:

- Select the "Moderate" link at the bottom of the image details
- Take the appropriate action

You will be unable to rate or comment on the image until the competition has been voted on. Comments and constructive critique are very welcome thereafter.

Look forward to seeing the entries roll in , good luck !

Regards Gruditch

[Gruditch]

Hi guys, As we are getting a few new members entering the comps, I thought it may be wise to go over the rules again.

- Please only post photos taken during the month in question (unless the month in question has a theme)

-Only photos taken in the wild are permissible

-Photos can be of any stage of any species taken anywhere (including outside the UK)

Kind Regards Gruditch

[Gruditch]

Hi all, voting is now open, in the interest of good sportsmanship, please don't forget to vote.

Best of luck, Regards Gruditch.

[Julian]

I didn't forget to vote Gruditch but in the interests of 'good sportsmanship', I think it sucks that you can't vote '10' for your own piece of work.... How else is one going to win?

Well done on coming third though, nice shot. John's 'First of the season' Orange Tip was a very worthy winner and thanks for all those who voted for my 'Homing in on Alder Buckthorn and gave me second place. I'm really moved. Btw, she's been out there all month laying eggs. Still there yesterday when I was outside in the garden. What a gal. I have to say I was shocked that Matt's Green Hairstreak and Friend wasn't placed. I thought it was great. Lots of other very worthy pictures including those Grizzzlies.

Cheers all

Julian

[mattberry]

Well done to the winners!

I had Julian's in 1st place for its dynamic representation of the symbiotic relationship between plant and butterfly. I can understand why Jon got lots of votes though and came first, its a beautiful Orange-tip portrait without a doubt and I think the colour tends to attract people to view and appreciate such shots far more easily than with a 'plain' green, white, or yellow butterfly.

As for mine, well since I took it I have become fond of the shot and the lack of a placement here doesn't change that a bit. As I believe we all should do, I take photos firstly for myself and then if others also enjoy them then thats a welcome bonus!

All the best,
Matt

[Gruditch]

Congratulations to John, and Julian.

I thought John's, Julian's, and Matt's entry's, were all very classy images. My own image does look pretty good as a A3 print, but looses quite a bit of its appeal when shrunken down, so I was very pleased, and a bit surprised to get in amongst them.

Thanks to all those that liked my image, and well done to all that entered.

Regards Gruditch

[NickB]

Indeed; that male OT was the best shot and composition, and I liked Gary's OT for the same reasons. The Glanville on the top of the flower was also interesting....Some very different shots this last month - from great composition to record shots to in-flight dramas, and all in between. It gets better all the time...
N

[Steve W]

Congratulations to the winners - some great pictures.
I like the current voting system but I really gained a lot from seeing other comments / critique of each photo which we used to have. Nobody seems to comment on any of the photos once the comp has ended - is there a reason for this? Perhaps it is too time consuming with so many photos now or maybe others don't find it so useful?
Steve

[Charles Nicol]

Well done everyone who entered... especially the first timers !!

I loved NickB's Green Hairstreak... very stylish.

Am off out now to find some shots in the heatwave for this month's comp

[Trev Sawyer]

Yep,
I have to say that John's Orange Tip image shouted "winner" to me the moment I saw it... but I was convinced it was one of Lisa's photos! Excellent stuff and I'm sure we are all learning to take better shots. This hot weather has brought both butterflies and photographers out in droves, so I'm sure the May competition will be a very hard one to judge.

Trev Sawyer

[FISHiEE]

Hehe not a bad result after a bit of a break from these competitions over the winter. Thanks to everyone who voted for my pic

Free time has been very limited for me of late and I was pretty chuffed to get such a good shot of the Orange Tip while out on a walk with my g/f near Petersfield. She doesn't mind up to a point, but her patience isn't as long as I'd like some times. Fortunately I got this shot after about 15-20 mins of chasing the butterflies and so we could continue a very enjoyable walk, relationship still on good terms. There have been past occasions where I've spent an hour photographing a single caterpillar, or just 'disappeared' for a couple of hours and then the remainder of the walk hasn't been quite so enjoyable! She has at least learnt to pack a couple of hefty books now when we go out on our walks now

My favourites were Gary's technically excellent Orange Tip, Julian's excellently captured Brimstone which must have taken some time to get such a good action shot. I've tried to photograph relatively easy Scarce Swallowtails gliding above my head in the South of France and after an hour gave up! Brimstones are far less pedictable and far faster. I guess having them in the garden helps! Matt's amazing fluke with the Green Hairstreak and Bee - takes some skill of course to get such a great image from the situation. The two insects side by side gives a great sense of how small Green Hairstreaks are and the eye contact between the two is excellent. I also like a lot the fact that the angle of the light on the butterfly is such that it's colour differs from the green foliage it's perched on so it stands out very well. I haven't tried in photoshop myself, but wonder if a letterbox crop removing some of the top and bottom of the image would improve this?

The two Speckled Wood shots I also rated up towards the top of the pile with Geniculata's just pipping Deano's as one the big out of focus blade of grass going diagonally right across the middle in the background was a bit of a distraction and one of the wings was just slightly obsucred by a bit of the Leylandi(?). Deano's was just a tad sharper though.

Padfield's Green Hairstreak is captured superbly (the detail in the butterfly is quite amazing actually)but the two things against it in my eye are that unlike in Matt's shot, the the angle of the light is such that, although the Hairstreaks colour is just the very best shade of brilliant green you could ever get, it matches the green of the leaves and is lost a little amongst them. Also, the use of either a very wide lens/very large aperture, or small sensored compact camera has resulted in there still being a reasonable amount of detail in the background which is a destraction. It also looks to me like one of those shots where though there is very good detail seen here, the full image would show stacks more, and maybe at a larger size the butterfly would stand out more from the leaves and the background due to the detail in the butterfly as I don't think there would be any real detail gained in the background and the leaves... if that makes sense? I'd be amazed if it does as I barely can understand what I'm going on about myself when I read it!

A few other comments:

Bill S's Pearl Border Fritillary - You were very fortunate to fund a resting one of these and you have some good detail there, however you are not fully square on to the butterfly and as a result the rear tips of the wings and the head aren't fully in focus. Moving the camera a just a few inches more to your left would have improved things however it would probably have meant your head being in the middle of the bush it's on unfortunately, but if you still have a clear shot to the butterfly that's fine!

Sililar comments as above for Rosalyn's Green Hairstreak. It doesn't show up so much I think due to the colour of the butterfly as much as anything else, but if you look on the bit of twig it's perched on you can see the plane of focus is diagonally across the butterfly and so while the head end is exceptionally sharp, the back edges of the wings aren't quite sharp - except the little tufred bit at the bottom which a;lways sticks out a bit and has just sneaked into the area of sharp focus and perhaps tricks the brain into seeing the rest as fully sharp too!

Steve W's egg laying Brimstone also has a small amount of the same problem as above with the rear wing edges not being quite fully sharp. The rest of the image is however excellent and you've captured the moment really well apart from that minor problem. I'd probably include a bit more of the leaves in the top of the image if it was me as it is a little tightly cropped there for my liking.

PhilliB - A great composition and it's almost up there with the best of them except you need a bit of a larger aperture (F Number) to get everything sharp. The left wing tip isn't quite sharp and also possibly the bottom right just a shade.

So now the lawn and the hedge are calling me to be cut and another rare free day is over. Still, I'm off on holiday twice through June - once for butterflies and once for fishing. Then I'm moving to Hampshire and working a 3 day week through July just as things such as Purple Emperors, Silver Washed Fritillaries, Silver Studded Blues, Dark Green Fritillaries etc. should be on the wing so hopefully I can have a crack at those this year as they are not normally common species for me in Kent, and in the case of the Purple Emperor I've yet to see one, and Dark Green Fritillary only 2 very old ones last year. Fingers crossed!!

[FISHiEE]

Oh I forgot to mention "I'm Mandy - fly me".

An great title, and if both butterflies had been sharp it would have been the winner. Great attempt at something a bit different. I tried something similar with Moroccan Orange Tips in the south of France earlier in the month. All mine had just the 1 butterfly in focus as well. Needed a wider lens to get more depth of field...

[Bill S]

Thanks for those comments on my pic John, totally agree. Although the butterfly perched in a nice position for a Pearl Bordered, and it was an overcast quite chilly day meaning I could get close without worry and spend time getting the shot perfect, it was however very windy. There wasn't much I could do other than wait for a drop in the wind, quickly get focus, have the camera drive into high speed and hope for the best. That was the best of them.

Cheers

Bill