LI Exhibition Center's Aviarium: Tropical Butterflies large 12 picture set.

[Joel_W]

After my very positive experience photographing Butterflies for the 1st time at Sweetbriar's outdoor's Aviarium, I read that the Riverhead Aquarium has within the Long Island Exhibition center a very large indoor Aviarium for Tropical Butterflies. So I was just itching to go. I was off from work on Monday, and took the drive out to Riverhead. Major differences from Sweetbriar was that it wasn't free. A entry fee of $11.50 awaited my wallet, but my AARP card got me a discount, so I got in for $10.

I got there 10 min before opening, and was told I could go right in. What greeted me were jets of mist everywhere, not only raising the humidity to well over 90%, but making the air so moist that I was concerned for D90/lens, and equipment. Fortunately, the heavy misting only takes place before and after the day's session. Small jets in the corners cont. to supply enough moisture so that the Butterflies felt right at home.

The lighting, which I inquired about was really weird. It was a combination of warm fluorescent, & Halogen Bulbs in fixtures that concentrated the light on the flower beds. Honesty, I wasn't sure exactly what to set the WB to, so I took my best shot and let the D90 do its thing set to A. As it turned out, it did it perfectly. I usually shoot at ISO 200 as flowers, and scenics just don't more, but Butterflies do, and the light while looking bright, wasn't the best for photography. I kicked up the ISO to 800, being concerned to go higher then that, which yielded an effective f8 aperture setting. I don't have a proper, dedicated macro lens, but make do with a 55-200mm lens and various Kenko extension tubes. The 12mm tube let me get close when needed, and yet let me move back when needed. Unfortunately, DOF does suffer. But I'm a long way off from convincing the wife that I need another expensive lens. So for now, this setup will have to do.

I'm also use to shooting virtually everything using a tripod. But no tripods are allowed, only Monopods, and I don't have one as yet. So I just used the tripod with the legs closed up. Not as good a Monopod, but it worked, and I'm getting a proper one this week.

I went a little crazy and within three short hours I managed to shoot 372 images. After much editing, I got it down to just 20 images. I've decided that I would post just one thread of 12 pictures.

Hope that all of you that make it through the entire set, enjoy it as much as I did in taking them.



Butterflies61812 285 by joelwillstein, on Flickr


Butterflies61812 262 by joelwillstein, on Flickr


Butterflies61812 245 by joelwillstein, on Flickr


Butterflies61812 230 by joelwillstein, on Flickr



Butterflies61812 215 by joelwillstein, on Flickr


Butterflies61812 210 by joelwillstein, on Flickr


Butterflies61812 196 by joelwillstein, on Flickr



Butterflies61812 160 by joelwillstein, on Flickr



Butterflies61812 146 by joelwillstein, on Flickr



Butterflies61812 063 by joelwillstein, on Flickr



Butterflies61812 055 by joelwillstein, on Flickr


Butterflies61812 048 by joelwillstein, on Flickr