www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi!! I'm a new member of this Forum, and I'm in awe of what I've seen so far!! Firstly, the level of knowlege displayed, and the helpfullness and friendliness. Secondly, the quality of the photography- I'm still not sure if I'm inspired, or if I should just throw the camera away!! And third, the number of photos of species I've never even seen in MANY years of butterfly hunting- with nets in childhood, and with cameras since my teens. Amazing!

Hello and welcome from another newbie

55Bloke
If your avatar is one of your own photos, then you certainly shouldn't throw that camera away - Orange Tip are notoriously tricky to photograph.
Well done.
Let's see some more.
Roger

Oh....Welcome!

Thanks for the encouragement! Yup, the pic is one of my own efforts, taken in the meadow behind our house which always used to be alive with Orange Tips in May. Sadly, in their infinite wisdom, whoever ownes the meadow mowed it this year, and I never saw a single Orange Tip. The pics are stored away in my archive somwhere, will try and dig them out and post a few.

A warm welcome to the site from me in Surrey, I hope you enjoy your visits here and I echo Rogers comment, keep the images coming

Ok, I've had a root around my files, and have found some pics of the elusive Orange Tips.
Ladies 1st




and now the guys

Hi 55bloke,

Nice photo's. You should enter this months comp. Gruditch needs some more competition!

Well done you on getting very good shots of these butterflies. I have yet to manage it!

Denise

Hey - those are pretty good - especialy from such a small camera - Olympus C750?
I would suggest pushing the ISO from the 50 it was on those pictures to 400 to enable a higher F No. and thus depth of field.
Good stuff though, and thank you for sharing them.
Roger

A great selection there 55 well done mate to get the open male shots

Rogerdodge wrote:Hey - those are pretty good - especialy from such a small camera - Olympus C750?
I would suggest pushing the ISO from the 50 it was on those pictures to 400 to enable a higher F No. and thus depth of field.
Good stuff though, and thank you for sharing them.
Roger

That little Olmpus is a superb camera for the money, I used it for about 5 years and it never let me down. The Macro was the clincher that made choose it in the 1st place. As for raising the ISO, it causes image quality loss, similar to the increased grain when using fast film. Just last month I upgraded to a Canon Powershot, 8MP compared to the Olmpus' 4, with a 12 x optical zoom and macro as good as the Olympus. Agonised for ages about weather to go for an SLR, with a biger sensor, but in the end decided against it beacause of all the extra lenses you'd need to buy to cover the same range, and all the extra kit you have to carry around. The pics on my Cretan butterflies thread were taken with it.

Mike Young wrote:A great selection there 55 well done mate to get the open male shots

God, I'm SOOO glad that quote is on a butterfly photography forum!!

I upgraded to a Canon Powershot, 8MP

Good choice - Canon do lovely compacts as well as the DSLRs.
Sometimes I wish I had just a smaller bridge or compact. Especially when I am miles from the van, thirsty, hungry and it has just started to rain.
But.............there is something about DSLRs that is addictive. Always that new bit of kit that is magically going to improve your photography!...
In the end it all comes down the artists eye - framing the shot in that indefinable 'right' way - no amount of money can buy that!!!
Oh - and I don't have it by the way
Ah well, back to my glass of scotch and the guide book to Croatia - flying out on Sunday - no idea what the butterflies will be like - but I shall find some..................................

Roger

ROTFLMAO

Rogerdodge wrote:

I upgraded to a Canon Powershot, 8MP

Good choice - Canon do lovely compacts as well as the DSLRs.
Sometimes I wish I had just a smaller bridge or compact. Especially when I am miles from the van, thirsty, hungry and it has just started to rain.
But.............there is something about DSLRs that is addictive. Always that new bit of kit that is magically going to improve your photography!...
In the end it all comes down the artists eye - framing the shot in that indefinable 'right' way - no amount of money can buy that!!!
Oh - and I don't have it by the way
Ah well, back to my glass of scotch and the guide book to Croatia - flying out on Sunday - no idea what the butterflies will be like - but I shall find some..................................

Roger

Isn't it a bit late in the year?

Hi 55bloke,

Nice shots. Not easy indeed, but you seemed to get them. Pritty nice. I ahd to follow orange-tips around to get shots and then had to sit and wait, sometimes for ages to get a shot of the butterfly, had to wait for it to reappear on flower again.

Tell me about it!! Dread to think how much time I've spent crawling around in the undergrowth!! Had some VERY strange looks from passers by over the years!

Rogerdodge wrote: In the end it all comes down the artists eye - framing the shot in that indefinable 'right' way - no amount of money can buy that!!!

When it comes to photographing butterrfles, there never seems to be time to artistically frame the shot and carefully compose the image. It's usually more a case of, "Thank God the little bugger has finally decided to sit still for more than a second, get a shot quick before it flutters off again."

I couldn't agree more!
Worth it in the end though.

Denise

55bloke wrote:

Rogerdodge wrote: In the end it all comes down the artists eye - framing the shot in that indefinable 'right' way - no amount of money can buy that!!!

When it comes to photographing butterrfles, there never seems to be time to artistically frame the shot and carefully compose the image. It's usually more a case of, "Thank God the little bugger has finally decided to sit still for more than a second, get a shot quick before it flutters off again."

I would agree, especially when it comes to species like Orange-Tip or fratillaries. I do try my best to get a good "artistic" shot if possible, but usually with only the first few shots do I try and get the shot, then if I can, go for a more artistic shot.