Several Butterfly images, from my 2018 season.

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Paul
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Ive put a bit of effort into capturing some pleasing Butterfly images this year.
Although i havent been able to spend as much time as i would have liked (out in the field) because of work commitments.
But the time that i have spent, has been rewarding. I didnt "catch up" with some of my usual species, when they emerged,
so will hopefully try for those missed species in 2019.

Im lucky to live in the South East of England (Kent) so we have some good natural butterfly habitat, that is local to me.
I dont have to travel too far, which is always a bonus.

Several images, cheers Paul.
Any comments, questions are welcome.

Female Common Blue Butterfly (blue type). 4th-August-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Chalk Hill Blue Butterfly(F). 28th-July-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Female Common Blue Butterfly, at sunset. (uncropped). 26th-July-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Chalk Hill Blue Butterfly (F) uncropped. 21st-July-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Common Blue Butterfly (M). 26th-May-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Adonis Blue Butterfly (m). 26th-May-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Adonis Blue Butterfly (f) uncropped. 26th-May-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr
 
Nice set Paul.
Its hard for me to find a blue settles and with the wings open like your 1st and last shot.
 
That's a great set - lovely use of those complimentary backgrounds. My favourite is the first. It's just stunning. I've been chassing a lot of common blues in my garden this year, and had a new-one-for-me holly blue.
 
Nice set Paul.
Its hard for me to find a blue settles and with the wings open like your 1st and last shot.

Cheers Graham.
Dont worry mate, its also hard for me to find various butterflies(such as "blues") with all 4 of their wings spread open perfectly too!
Several stages of searching have to be utilized, in order to capture the "perfect open wing shot".
Certain times of the day are best for this...either early morning, or late afternoon/evening...I always used to chase butterflies throughout the hottest part of the day(when they are at their most active) i more often that not, failed to get the types of images that im striving for! But for the last couple of years, ive stopped making it hard for myself, an now choose afternoon/evening times(when the butterflies are not so super active) in order to capture the types of images ive posted in this thread.
Your also looking for "freshly" emerged butterflies too(again, not easy). The fresh butterflies are not so active at 1st, they also like to spread their wings wide, and bask for longer periods of time(although, this is short lived) once they warm up, they will be off either mating or nectaring!
If you look at my images, you will see the very tiny fine hairs that are found on the edge of the wings, these are in near perfect condition, which shows that the butterfly is "fresh". As the butterfly becomes active, the fine hairs will wear down quite rapidly.
Then in a sea of "Blues" you have to search for your target species. Blue Adonis(in my locations) are not that frequent...and the females are even more harder to find!
So after several hours of searching on that day, i was very pleased to find/photograph both male and female Adonis Blues, which judging by their appearance, were freshly emerged.
Then it comes to trying to get the whole of the butterfly in focus! As you know, its a very thin focal plain, I want both sets of wings, the body, the head, the antennae etc all in focus!.......Luck and field skills play a part.

Hope i havent bored you with the above^^^^^^^^^^info. mate...cheers Paul.
 
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That's a great set - lovely use of those complimentary backgrounds. My favourite is the first. It's just stunning. I've been chassing a lot of common blues in my garden this year, and had a new-one-for-me holly blue.

Cheers Jan.
Its nice that you get Common Blues occur in your garden.
I agree, that 1st image/butterfly is a beauty. Most of the female common blues are brown, then you see some with hints of blue, then more blue than brown...then every now and again a real stunning blue female will appear. That blue female is the best specimen of its type that i have ever seen myself. It was late afternoon, i was photographing male Chalk hill Blues basking, when i spotted that beauty...No clouds in the sky, low sun, and a fresh female Blue landed right in front of me, i couldnt believe my luck, so i shot as many pics as i could(in the short space of time i had) then she was gone. I couldnt re-locate her after that...but happy i captured a few keepers.
Cheers Paul.
 
Beautiful photos, especially the first, and the two Adonis Blues.

The other part of the equation when photographing butterflies is a clear background, which isn't always easy to get. I should create a gallery purely for my photos which have an OOF, dead grass stem running diagonally across the background!

Cheers,

Dave
 
Beautiful photos, especially the first, and the two Adonis Blues.

The other part of the equation when photographing butterflies is a clear background, which isn't always easy to get. I should create a gallery purely for my photos which have an OOF, dead grass stem running diagonally across the background!

Cheers,

Dave

Thanks for that Dave.
Your are right, i have 1000's of butterfly photos, which do not have a nice clear/uncluttered background. There is always a grass stem (or 3) which spoils the background!

In these next 2 images, they will show the same male Adonis Blue, on the same grass stem, but one photo has a "busy" background, whilst the other photo has a clear background.
There is approx 20 minutes time duration between the 2 images, an this was shot from approx 7.00pm. The Adonis Blue was basking for awhile in the low sun, then he decided to close his wings, in order to roost for the evening/night. Which enabled me to get side on with him, zoom the lens in for closer shots, an try for that clear/uncluttered background.
Both images are not cropped. Cheers Paul.

Adonis Blue Butterfly (m) uncropped. 26th-May-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Adonis Blue Butterfly (m) uncropped. 26th-May-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr
 
Thanks for that Dave.
Your are right, i have 1000's of butterfly photos, which do not have a nice clear/uncluttered background. There is always a grass stem (or 3) which spoils the background!

In these next 2 images, they will show the same male Adonis Blue, on the same grass stem, but one photo has a "busy" background, whilst the other photo has a clear background.
There is approx 20 minutes time duration between the 2 images, an this was shot from approx 7.00pm. The Adonis Blue was basking for awhile in the low sun, then he decided to close his wings, in order to roost for the evening/night. Which enabled me to get side on with him, zoom the lens in for closer shots, an try for that clear/uncluttered background.
Both images are not cropped. Cheers Paul.

Adonis Blue Butterfly (m) uncropped. 26th-May-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Adonis Blue Butterfly (m) uncropped. 26th-May-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr
2 excellent photos. There is one more way to get them all in focus and that's by using a tripod, shutter speed of about 1/20 or slower, this will result in the bg being super creamy, I have someone on my FB and Flickr who does this, such lovely photos he creates.
 
Cheers Graham.
Dont worry mate, its also hard for me to find various butterflies(such as "blues") with all 4 of their wings spread open perfectly too!
Several stages of searching have to be utilized, in order to capture the "perfect open wing shot".
Certain times of the day are best for this...either early morning, or late afternoon/evening...I always used to chase butterflies throughout the hottest part of the day(when they are at their most active) i more often that not, failed to get the types of images that im striving for! But for the last couple of years, ive stopped making it hard for myself, an now choose afternoon/evening times(when the butterflies are not so super active) in order to capture the types of images ive posted in this thread.
Your also looking for "freshly" emerged butterflies too(again, not easy). The fresh butterflies are not so active at 1st, they also like to spread their wings wide, and bask for longer periods of time(although, this is short lived) once they warm up, they will be off either mating or nectaring!
If you look at my images, you will see the very tiny fine hairs that are found on the edge of the wings, these are in near perfect condition, which shows that the butterfly is "fresh". As the butterfly becomes active, the fine hairs will wear down quite rapidly.
Then in a sea of "Blues" you have to search for your target species. Blue Adonis(in my locations) are not that frequent...and the females are even more harder to find!
So after several hours of searching on that day, i was very pleased to find/photograph both male and female Adonis Blues, which judging by their appearance, were freshly emerged.
Then it comes to trying to get the whole of the butterfly in focus! As you know, its a very thin focal plain, I want both sets of wings, the body, the head, the antennae etc all in focus!.......Luck and field skills play a part.

Hope i havent bored you with the above^^^^^^^^^^info. mate...cheers Paul.

Super images Paul. Great too to have the background information.
 
Lovely work
 
2 excellent photos. There is one more way to get them all in focus and that's by using a tripod, shutter speed of about 1/20 or slower, this will result in the bg being super creamy, I have someone on my FB and Flickr who does this, such lovely photos he creates.
Cheers Graham.
Interesting info youve suggested, by using a tripod/slower shutter speeds etc(for those creamy back grounds...something i may try in the future.
I think that could work for early morning butterfly photography, where the butterfly is waking from its nights sleep/rest, so as the morning light/sun hits it, the butterfly would open its wings to warm up/bask. So you would have to find the roosting/resting butterfly, set up your camera/tripod and wait for the sun to come up.

Super images Paul. Great too to have the background information.
Thanks Nick.
I know i rarely write down any info.(as to my methods, settings, exif etc) so its good to do this now an again.

Lovely work

Cheers for the comment Alf.
 
set up your camera/tripod and wait for the sun to come up.

And its obviously got to be a windless morning otherwise it will not work.
 
2 excellent photos. There is one more way to get them all in focus and that's by using a tripod, shutter speed of about 1/20 or slower, this will result in the bg being super creamy, I have someone on my FB and Flickr who does this, such lovely photos he creates.
Presumably this only works only in the morning?
 
I dont think Ive been out on a butterfly day, when it wasnt windy this year?!
Several weeks ago, it was stupidly windy one Saturday afternoon! i still managed to capture some half decent images though.
Im sure our country(or at least Kent) has become more windy these last few years.
Where in Kent are you taking these photos?
 
Where in Kent are you taking these photos?

I visit quite a few locations in Kent(throughout the Butterfly season).
The main 2 areas that i visit(because they both produce the Adonis Blues)as well as many other species are - Darland Banks, Gillingham, Kent.
Also Queensdown Warren, which is south of Rainham/Sittingbourne/Hartlip.
Queensdown Warren is a good place for Silver Spotted Skippers. Darland Banks is a good place for Small Blues.
Although, the season for these Butterflies is nearing its end for this year!

Several more images(from both of the locations that i have mentioned above).

Adonis Blue Butterfly(m) at sunset. 6th-August-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Female Chalk Hill Blue Butterfly. 4th-August-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Chalk Hill Blue Butterfly(m) at sunset. 4th-August-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

Female Common Blue Butterfly, at sunset. 28th-July-2018. by Testudo Man, on Flickr
 
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