The Monarch Files C&C

[RobNZ]

Took the wife and kids to a local park today, thought it would be a good to get some fern shots. No such luck sadly.

But I did get these.

All shot with the Canon 50-250mm kit lens mounted on my 500D. All shot around midday in full sun!!!! eeek, ah well I think a few of them turned out ok though, made use of a reflector where I could to fill in.

1: Best of the bunch I think.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Sorry the last one was for some contrast, hopefully you were lulled and relaxed by looking at pretty pics and you now have goosebumps?

Of the 3 similar ones, which do think is the better one?

 

[lunaaa]

just WOW

 

[RobNZ]

Thanks lunaaa

 

[sleist]

Well done!

Nice coloring.
Nice out of focus rendering.
Nice composition.
Nice focus.


Except the spider - pic's fine - just hate spiders.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Two words....

Very nice.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

These are gorgeous!

 

[sweetreddancer]

These are absolutely stunning! I can't even come close to picking a favorite!

 

[katy625]

Beautiful

 

[myfotoguy]

I agree with the others, well done in all aspects.

Between 2, 4 and 6, I like 6 the best since you can see more of the butterfly. Although, the green background in 4 is really nice, the color of the flower and the butterfly itself are much better in 6.

Great job!

 

[ifi]

Great job! I like 5 and 6 a lot

 

[Cedar]

Beautiful. Great shots

 

[Pgeobc]

Nice pics, I think. The caterpillar is not a Monarch caterpiller, though. I think that it belongs to a black and yellow Tiger Swallowtail, maybe.

 

[Overstanding]

Great job! Those look stunning.

 

[RobNZ]

Nice pics, I think. The caterpillar is not a Monarch caterpiller, though. I think that it belongs to a black and yellow Tiger Swallowtail, maybe.

Definately Monarch, lots of swan plants around the park, and a dedicated breeding enclosure. We don't get many colourful species here in NZ being so isolated.

I agree with the others, well done in all aspects.

Between 2, 4 and 6, I like 6 the best since you can see more of the butterfly. Although, the green background in 4 is really nice, the color of the flower and the butterfly itself are much better in 6.

Great job!

I agree myfotoguy, 6 wasn't a candidate initially but the first similar 2 "bugged" me because you could not see the head of the butterfly very well, a little too hidden behind the petal. So I had another look at the RAW files and lucked out with 6, that BG in that could easily be greened up.

Something has "clicked" lately with my photography, finally with my limited experience I can now actually pull off a shot or two, how I envision it to look in my mind.

Experimentation with different forms of photography is really helping, because what you can learn from shooting a simple water droplet for example, can lead to idea's, techniques and skills that can be used elsewhere.

So I guess I pick a subject and shoot it until I have the desired result, same applies for each shot above, I found the composition I wanted (tripod for all except the first one), carefully checking backgrounds then I worked with the camera and sometimes a reflector (only the spider shot of the keepers) to get what I wanted.

In the past I would be running around trying to capture everything, I'd luck out now and then with a keeper, but now I get the composition right first off even if that means shooting the same thing from 10 different angles, get the light right or wait for the light to be right, check my focus is spot on before the shot and after, check for any camera shake, motion blur, over and under exposed areas and if that is all good and it looks ok on the LCD, it may be in the basket.

I came home with 135 shots (excluding the ones I deleted onsite), I will keep 7. Of those 135 shots, the spider took 20 exposures and 2 different anlges, 15 of the butterfly from side on, caterpillar was 12 and first one was also about 20 exposures.

I am pretty sure you could shoot just about anything with the right composition, lighting and technique and make it look interesting.

Sorry, dribbling on there, just thought I would share my current methodology

Thanks for the feedback so far!!

 

[Eventer]

Nice pics, I think. The caterpillar is not a Monarch caterpiller, though. I think that it belongs to a black and yellow Tiger Swallowtail, maybe.

Yeah its definatly a Monarch caterpiller - We hardley get any other butterflies on NZ!!

like everyone else said those the photos are AWESOME!! :thumbup: