Portrait of a Lady

[Bend The Light]

These are not wild...we bought a kit with some caterpillars and all we needed to "make" Painted Lady butterflies. The kids love it, and I also got my macro set up out for the first time in a couple of years...

Here are a few shots, shot with M42 Vivitar 90mm f2.8 1:1 Macro lens and a variety of extension tubes. Cheapo ring flash.

12Apr2014_Crysalid splitting by Bend The Light, on Flickr

14Apr2014 Number 3 by Bend The Light, on Flickr

14Apr2014 First Born by Bend The Light, on Flickr

14Apr2014 First Born close Up by Bend The Light, on Flickr

14Apr2014 Portrait of a Lady by Bend The Light, on Flickr

Quite pleased with them.

 

[Bend The Light]

A few more taken today.

The first is the butterfly that didn't emerge properly - you can see his proboscis is in two parts, so he is finding it difficult to feed, I think.

16Apr2014 Poorly Butterfly by Bend The Light, on Flickr

16Apr2014 Feeding by Bend The Light, on Flickr

16Apr2014 Feeding portrait by Bend The Light, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

BTL - long time, no see! A bit of a departure from your usual work, but very interesting nonetheless!

 

[Bend The Light]

BTL - long time, no see! A bit of a departure from your usual work, but very interesting nonetheless!

Thanks. I used to do a lot of macro...

Been a little busy, been photographing families in the studio leaving less time for recreational photography. I will keep popping by but maybe not at my previous rate.

 

[Bend The Light]

Well, today was the day to release the butterflies. We released 4 of the 5 - the last one only emerged today, so we kept him behind to strengthen.
We also released the invalid butterfly - he wouldn't fly as his wings were not formed properly - and I doubt he would survive even if we kept him. Sadly, the ants took him while he was in the strawberry patch.

A great experience, though..and we plan to repeat it later. First though, we are going to send a batch of caterpillars to my daughter's class at school - they can watch some butterflies develop too.

1. A bit of sun before release:
18Apr2014 In the sun by Bend The Light, on Flickr

2. A bit of juice for the journey:
18Apr2014 Feeding by Bend The Light, on Flickr

3. On the brink...ready to fly:
18Apr2014 Ready to fly by Bend The Light, on Flickr

4. Annie (age 5) releases the invalid butterfly:
18Apr2014 Annie releases the invalid by Bend The Light, on Flickr

5. The invalid butterfly, before the anys took him:
18Apr2014 Poor thing by Bend The Light, on Flickr

Thanks for reading the thread.

 

[baturn]

Cool series. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bend The Light]

Cool series. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you.