PhilBWright

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Sun Jun 29, 2014 10:14 pm

Love the spot the Purple Hairstreak - I had to tilt the screen for it to appear

I'll be doing my best to locate His Nibbs elsewhere there was one recorded at Bentley last weekend and I tried a new wood today where they have been recorded in the past but no luck yet, although I have got my hands on some pretty foul/great fish oil

Have a goodun

Wurzel

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 3:41 am

Thanks Wurzel, I hope you have a good one too!

Creating still images from videos

I have been creating some still images from video clips (my camera can do this). As this is my first attempt at this, any more thoughts on this would be much appreciated here. The following pictures I have created from video footage I have taken:

: Red Admiral (not a Purple Emperor) :)

: Still image from video clip (SWF)

: SWF from video clip

Best Wishes,
Philip

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 7:51 pm

Wednesday 2nd July
I spent an excellent afternoon with Rob Hill at Bookham Common, Surrey taking pictures of Purple Emperors in and around the Oak Canopies. The maximum we saw were three Emperors at once which (of course), Rob managed to capture on camera. It was a good learning day for me, increasing my camera minimum shutter speed to help reduce image blur. Rob was very kind and quick also to help passers by who were interested. One funny moment came when a chap was looking for White Admirals and just about as soon as he left, one landed on the path in front of us!

I am going to do a bit more analysis as to why my new camera was taking a poorer quality picture at a similar distance compared with my other camera. I think it was probably to do with my camera settings but I am not sure yet.

: Purple Emperor in Oak Canopy

: Emperor with Oak Canopy Territory

Best Wishes,
Philip

Willrow · Post by **Willrow** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 7:47 pm

Looks like a bout of PE neckache might be on the cards Phil

probably worth it though

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Sat Jul 05, 2014 4:51 pm

Thanks Bill,
Yes I did get a "Purple Emperor Neck" on Wednesday

. It has been raining today so I have been sorting through some of my pictures and video clips and trying to work out how to improve in the future on the clarity of my pictures taken from distance.
Max optical zoom, with no digital zoom, using a tripod set up quite high, fast shutter speed and slightly under exposing pictures then later compensating with more colour saturation and increased brightness with the editing package on the PC at home looks like the way forward.
This PE was recognisable because of a small nick in the top of its wing:

: Purple Emperor in Hornbeam Canopy approx. 30m away.

For top quality pictures of PE one needs to look at Neil Hulme's diary.
Best Wishes,

Philip

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Sun Jul 06, 2014 7:54 pm

The following pictures of a Purple Emperor are "video stills" searched for frame by frame on my camera and then recorded as pictures. They have been taken from a couple of "not very good" (if I am honest) movie clips. Or at least the movie clips need a lot of editing to make them look reasonable. I hope I am not "cheating" too much!

: Introducing......

: "Mr Tatty"

: On patrol....

: and

: Defending Territory.

and here is a picture to try and prove to you that I don't have "Purple Emperor Feaver"

: Meadow Brown

Best Wishes,
Philip

Willrow · Post by **Willrow** » Mon Jul 07, 2014 7:46 pm

I've no experience of video Phil, would probably suffer from too much camera shake

but like most other things in life 'practice makes master', I'm sure you'll only get better and enjoy the process, Purple Emperor are not the easiest species to hone your skills on, but you have to start somewhere. I'll pop in to read your posts occasionally to see how your getting on

good luck.

Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 10:55 pm

Thanks Bill, I had a really good day today, (10th July)

At least the Purple Emperor is big and often sits proudly on a top leaf. Purple Hairstreaks on the other hand, I think are even more challenging, much smaller and tend not to perch right at the very top and are easily lost. Here is a sample of some of my video stills (video will follow, not top quality but hopefully showing a few things many others don't see).

: Four Purple Hairstreaks

: Purple Hairstreak & Purple Emperor

: Purple Hairstreaks

: Purple Emperor Vs Purple Hairstreak

: Purple Hairstreak Perching near top of Oak Canopy

Neil Hulme · Post by **Neil Hulme** » Thu Jul 10, 2014 11:02 pm

Good effort! I love the Emperor vs. Hairstreak frames. These two really hate each other.
BWs, Neil

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 6:42 am

Great action stuff Phil

When I first got into butterflying I found Purple Hairstreaks on Bracken - but none since then - they're one of those species which you often see and only get a photo of if luck is on your side. Be lucky

.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 7:40 am

12/7/2014... part 1
Thanks for the encouragement Neil, it is much appreciated. Thanks Wurzel, this is amazing. I took this picture before I read your post. Yesterday (12/7/2014) was for some reason the best ever day I have had for spotting hairstreaks low down at Bookham Common. I simply lost count of the numbers I saw. No good open wing shots though. I was distracted by Purple Emperors (that is my excuse, anyway

). Several different individuals on Bracken, some on the path and grass. This was very unusual I think. Here is a picture.....

: Purple Hairstreak on Bracken 12/7/2014

Here is another picture:

: Purple Hairstreak on Gravel Path

and just to show that I look down as well as up, a Holly Blue on Horse droppings was a first for me....

: Holly Blue 12/7/2014

Best Wishes,
Philip

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 8:46 am

12/7/2014... Part 2
Yesterday I was trying to be a bit more like Rob Hill who takes great "inflight" Purple Emperor pictures.

The method is to lock the focus on a leaf at a distance where the butterflies are expected to be seen and then set a very fast shutter speed on the camera to eliminate much of the blurring caused by the Purple Emperors moving quickly and camera shake. It is then just a case of point and shoot adjusting the zoom to suit if the lens is not fixed.
There is a balance to be had. If one is zoomed in close, one is likely to miss the shot completely but there is a better chance of capturing a good picture without the need for much cropping on the PC. If one is zoomed out there is a much better chance of capturing the scene but the butterflies may appear small.
My camera has a shutter speed priority mode where one can set the shutter speed and the ISO and aperture are automatically adjusted to suit. This works well as long as it is not too dark !
Here was my first attempt with the camera set on P mode by mistake with the focus locked but the shutter speed was not really fast enough:

: Picture taken in "P" mode by mistake.

Here is another attempt with the camera set to "shutter speed priority mode". A much clearer shot but not a good composition. More practice needed !

: Shutter Speed Priority mode

I practiced on a couple of Speckled Woods but I think it was too dark for a really fast shutter speed:

: Speckled Woods with slightly slower Shutter Speed

Changing the subject, it was nice to see the Peacocks which have been out for about a week now at Bookham Common

:

: "In Your Face" Peacock on Thistle 12/7/2014

Best Wishes,
Philip

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 8:42 pm

13/7/2014
I have been learning some techniques from Rob Hill with my "humble SLR Camera"

I have massively cropped a few of these pictures so can't really enlarge them much more without a lot more "noise". In bright conditions I have been using shutter speeds of up to 1/2000 sec and the camera automatically compensates with a high ISO

: I think leaves in the foreground make the butterflies look small

: massively cropped

: I like this one !

14/7/2014
I spent another really good afternoon with Rob Hill. We met by chance in the same location!

: Some Purple! I think (if one looks closely).

: "My Desktop Background!"

: lol open wings Brimstone (by mistake with slow shutter speed)

BW,
Phil

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Mon Jul 14, 2014 10:06 pm

Pretty jammy Phil that Purp Hairstreak

In teresting reading about the techniques used for flight shots of His Nibbs, do they work for other subjects too?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Tue Jul 15, 2014 4:29 am

Thanks Wurzel, I am looking to continue improving my camera skills.
I was off work Monday so I had a long weekend. Back to work today (in the office) so I will probably stop hogging the diary updates for the next couple of days at least

Here are a few more pictures from my long weekend. Holly Blues and Purple Hairstreaks mainly:

Please could someone let me know what is going on with this hairstreaks wings? Are they slightly deformed? Unfortunately I didn't get many good pictures before the butterfly moved off

Over the weekend, one of my aims was to video the courtship ritual of the Silver Washed Fritillary (where the female flies in a straight line and the male circles around her) so that I could edit and update my SWF video submitted last year. I was however quite frustrated. When this happened I was fumbling around with my camera and by the time I was ready the butterflies were almost out of sight! Then while I was eating my lunch in the car, two past by no more than 5 meters from the car. This happened twice in the space of ten minutes!

Another day perhaps,

Best Wishes,
Philip

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 8:41 pm

Fantastic Holly Blue and Purp shots Phil

I reckon the deformed wings Purp were because they didn't dry properly when it emerged from the chrysalis but as it 'moved' off it sounds like they haven't held it back.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:58 pm

Thanks Wurzel,
I have been spending much time recently sorting through literally hours of video footage taken of nothing much and Purple Emperors in the tree canopy. I will eventually compress the video clips into something that is about four minutes long and upload it to youtube. The last action I recorded was on 18th July and I don't think I will have anything to add after this unless I manage to find a female egg laying (which is doubtful).
I have also been keeping an eye out for Brown Hairstreaks at Bookham Common. I have never seen one. Rob Hill kindly showed me where to look next to the banks of Blackthorn. They are meant to be quite difficult to find so I am hoping to get lucky. If not, there are plenty of Gatekeepers to photograph

Here are a few of my pictures from last weekend:

Best Wishes.
Philip

PhilBJohnson · Post by **PhilBJohnson** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 5:48 pm

24/7/2014
Yesterday I went looking after work for my first Brown Hairstreak at Bookham Common, Surrey. The closest thing I found was this Small Copper:

: 24.7.2014 Small Copper, Bookham Common, Surrey

25.7.2014
Today I found a bee, flesh fly, bright orange beetle and a Meadow Brown !

: a bee

: a flesh fly

: bright orange beetle

: Meadow Brown

Also my first ever Brown Hairstreak......

: Brown Hairstreak

I have been experimenting a bit with my camera settings as you might well be able to see from these pics. Some of these are quite "noisy" with a big ISO.

Best Wishes,
Philip

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:55 pm

Great stuff Phil in seeing your first ever Brown Hairstreak

Mike

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Sat Jul 26, 2014 3:48 pm

Congrats on your first Bro'streak Phil, you'll have to head back in a week or two for a female (I take it that that's a female this 'early')

I just hope things slow down slightly so the butterflies last into September...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

PhilBWright

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