Spring is coming!

Sharkbait · Feb 18, 2004

Well, this week is the first week that when I drive to school in the mornings there's a tiny bit of lightening to the sky in the east. February is always the toughest month to get through, but it's almost over, and spring is on its way!

To celebrate, here's a nice warm-weather shot I got last summer.

Dew · Feb 18, 2004

oh wow, i havent seen a butterfly in yrs

Sharkbait · Feb 18, 2004

Then here's another for ya, Dew!

LaFoto · Feb 18, 2004

Any time I see photos like these two, I wish I could get as close to things as you can. Despite the macro function of my zoom lense, I still feel it doesn't take me close enough to things! My sister envies me my macro function as it is, but I want more. I want to get as close to butterflies (just for example

) as this!
Wonderful!

Sharkbait · Feb 18, 2004

LaFoto said:
Any time I see photos like these two, I wish I could get as close to things as you can. Despite the macro function of my zoom lense, I still feel it doesn't take me close enough to things! My sister envies me my macro function as it is, but I want more. I want to get as close to butterflies (just for example ) as this!
Wonderful!

I actually shot these with my 200mm zoom lens from about 10 ft away. Super bright day, so I could keep the shutter speed high enough to avoid much camera shake. Still, I took about two dozen shots and only these couple were really workable.

Lungfarmer · Feb 18, 2004

Great photos

Everytime I see butterflies I think of that John Denver song... Will I ever catch another butterfly?

drdan · Feb 18, 2004

This isn't a very good photo as it was a handheld zoom capture of a fast moving, very small butterfly. I find it appealing though, partly because it turns out that a little "flower fairy" is reaching over to bless the butterfly.

Sharkbait · Feb 18, 2004

Oooo I like that one! It's much crisper than mine!

jack · Feb 18, 2004

lol@drdan .. thats so cool. i like it.
shark, that first picture is awesome.

LaFoto · Feb 19, 2004

So it was "just" a 200mm zoom? From 10 feet... that would be a little over three metres, right? Hm... It would take a bright and sunny day, though. Well... spring might be coming and then I can continue trying to catch things up close...

And DrDan, your photo is lovely, mostly so the little "flower fairy"

. What a lovely association you had! You could just crop (so I've learned here is the word) the many flowers that you don't really want to be in the photo, to better concentrate on the butterfly and the flower fairy.
Would that be a feasible idea?

drdan · Feb 19, 2004

When I originally cropped this I did just that. That's nice too and when I went crop this time I started to do that and ended up with the version above instead. I like the less cropped one a little better. Part of the problem is that the butterfly was a small part a of big picture and was already slightly blurry from the hurried, handheld shot. Cropping down too far makes the lack of resolution even more apparent. Here is a more closely cropped version.