I Got IT!!!

Overread · Aug 17, 2009

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2486/3831320002_173206501a_o.jpg
f13, ISO 200, 1/200sec, flash used

Taken with: Canon 400D, Sigma 70mm macro, 1.4 teleconverter, speedlite 580M2, Lumiquest softbox

Taken in the Butterfly and Wildlife Park, Norwich
Butterfly & Wildlife Park :: Home

Ok its not tack sharp, its not perfectly focused and heck fullsize it looks even softer -- but its darn well flying it is!!
It was the end of the day and this one was hovering around another is it species for a good while, letting me fire off a series of shots to try and capture the inflight motion. It was only because he was hovering at the time that I was able to get the AF on the lens to lock on (I needed AF, though its nothing special on the 70mm its a lot faster than me) and fire off the shots. I did try highspeed mode on the flash, but the light given off was not enough - though I suppose I could have opened up to around f8 for this capture and thus given myself some more light to play with.

Any comments/crits welcome - thank you

Derrel · Aug 17, 2009

I like the way you've got just a bit of wingtip motion blur. It conveys the flying status of the butterfly,as opposed to one that is simply perched on a leaf or branch and feeding. Your photo is a much more-sophisticated rendering than a simple straight flash shot with no wingtip motion blur. Good job nailing it! I have always liked this type of butterfly shot, with flash + ambient light rendering the wings just a bit blurred,and have tried to get the effect to look good,and it's hard because what makes it look the best is to have rather dark foliage behind the butterfly. Also, where I live, we don't have many butterflies,alas.

Your next assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to capture a dragonfly in mid-air, using the perfect combination of ambient light exposure + flash for beautiful wingtip blurring. (There's a European dragonfly fanatic that has this down perfect, and he uses a 300mm f/4 prime lens to do this with and the results are amazing).

As cool as your shot is, I wonder if you have tried zooming out from say 300mm and toward 70mm while shooting similar shots using flash + slow speed exposures like 1/15 second...it gives a similar,yet different effect. You must start at tele, and zoom back,toward shorter focal lengths, for it to work.

Eel Noob · Aug 18, 2009

hehe sweet capture, at first I thought I was looking at the back of the butterfly till look closely and saw the eyes.

How do you like the 70mm compare to the 150mm?

Overread · Aug 18, 2009

Thanks for the input both - Derrel actually I think what you are after with the wingblurr is actually a lot easier than trying to freeze all the motion dead still - since that requires more shutter speed than 1/200 can do I think as well as flash support - of course putting the flash into highspeed sync mode reduces its power output, so it needs more than one flash (at least at the range I was at) to get the insect exposed well -- I am reluctant to open the aperture beyond around f8 simple as one has no idea how much wing will get into the shot - or at what angle it will be at - flat out will need far less aperture than folded in.

As for dragons I have tried snapping at them, but failed most times. Sadly I think the 300mm f4 prime is beating me with its faster AF - even with hte 150mm my AF is not blindingly fast. I might give it another go with my 70-200mm lens and extension tubes someday.

As for your suggestion about 1/15sec shutter speed whilst zooming I do think I understand the method you mean, but I don't think it would work well inflight - one would get a massive amount of motion blur at that speed. Unless one were using the flash on multistrobe and firing a series of light pulses during the shutter closing - that would be a cool effct with the wings frozen in different positions whilst being on teh same exposure.

Eel Noob thanks for the compliment.
As for the 150mm vs the 70mm they are both very sharp macro lenses and the 70mm also takes teleconverters as well (even though sigma don't list it as compatable it is and they fit well without forcing). For me though they are very different tools.

The 150mm is my standard and when I go outside its the lens I have attached for macro work, most of the time. Thus letting me take advantage of its extra long working distance

The 70mm though is the lens I prefer when working with more constricted environments, such as butterfly houses, indoors and some tripod work. Times when I don't have all the room to move around that I would like and when the 150mm will seem very long.

This is something which gets amplified for me since I often use a 1.4 Teleconverter (on both lenses) so my actual working distance at 1:1 is longer than normal. ( I like the 1.4TC for the ability to get that little bit close for that more detailed shot).