photoartflightEastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly @ 960mm
Posted on August 11, 2020
Here are a few images of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly from our visit to Davidsons Mill Pond Park. The featured image is a single image shot with a Canon 300mm f/4 lens with a 2x teleconverter on a Canon 7D @ f/11. Image below was a Blend of 2 stacked images, blended in Photoshop with a soft edge on the seam. Field of View equivalent with the Canon 7D (1.6x crop camera) 300mm f/4 lens, Canon 2x teleconverter ~ 960mm. When using a 2x teleconverter your lens wide open will be @ f/8, not f/4 because you loose 2 stops of light with the 2x teleconverter. So I usually stop down at least 1 additional f/stop to help with sharpness because of the added teleconverter. 
Monarch Butterfly At Davidsons Mill Pond
Posted on August 9, 2020
While I was photographing dragonflies at Davidsons Mill Pond Park this Monarch Butterfly flew in to these flowers right in front of me. I was using a 300mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter, so I had to backup some because it was too close to focus on. I was shooting almost wide open to get a smoother background so the Monarch & the flowers would standout more against a smooth background.
2 image limited focus stack to get a little more detail on the Monarch head & flowers right in front of the Monarch and still have a smooth background
Banded Hairstreak Butterfly
Posted on August 6, 2020
I was out in the yard looking for macro subjects after the Tropical Storm Isaias. In our community we had a few large branches come down from the strong winds, but nothing too major from what we saw during an early morning walk. We did not loose power, but 40% of our town lost power and close by towns were without power. Apparently it will take days for all power to be up again. A lot of the roads are closed and takes hours to try to get anywhere. Even close by stores are probably without power also, from what neighbors said that tried.
In the yard we found a Banded Hairstreak Butterfly in a Dwarf Alberta Spruce by our front door. I was able to get a few images before it disappeared in the Alberta Spruce. I was using a Sigma 150mm macro with a Canon 2x teleconverter.
Painted Lady Butterflies
Posted on June 23, 2020
Here is a Correction on the ID of the Butterflies. Sorry about that! Thanks to those who brought it to my attention!! More Butterfly images. I am using the same post processing as some previous posts for smoother backgrounds. Again all these are shot with an Olympus m43 Camera with a Panasonic 14-140mm lens @ 140mm. This (sort of) gives you the field of view of 280mm on a full frame camera. Many times when we are just going for a walk, I take an m43 Olympus or Panasonic camera instead of my standard larger Canons. A lot easier to carry for a walk. They do seem to have more noise than the Canons, but easy to remove.
More Assorted Butterflies
Posted on October 7, 2019
The last of the Butterfly images for this year. They closed their Butterfly exhibit at Davidson’s Mill Pond Park and removed the coverings on their butterfly house, releasing all the butterflies a few weeks ago to migrate. These were the last few we photographed before they moved on. It took me a while to work on posting these but finally got to them.
American Painted Lady Butterfly, 140mm, m43 format
Painted Lady Butterfly, 140mm, m43 format
Monarch Butterfly, 140mm, m43 format
Buckeye Butterfly, 140mm, m43 format
Monarch Butterfly, 140mm, m43 format
Monarch Butterfly, 140mm, m43 format
Monarch Butterfly, 140mm, m43 format
Monarch Butterfly, 140mm m43 format
Monarch Butterfly, 140mm, m43 format
Painted Lady, @ 140mm m43 format
Painted Lady, @ 140mm m43 format
Monarch, @ 140mm m43 format
Monarch, @ 140mm m43 format
Monarch, @ 140mm m43 format
Cabbage White, @ 140mm m43 format
Painted Lady – @ 140mm m43 Format
Buckeye Butterfly @ Plainsbore Preserve
Posted on September 5, 2019
While we were looking for photo subjects at Plainsboro Preserve, I spotted this Buckeye Butterfly working this flower. The Butterflies and Dragonflies all seem to have a look of wear & tear now this time of year. But it is still fun to get some photos. I was using a Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens with an extension tube for closer focusing. This Buckeye had quite a bit of wing damage.
Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly
Posted on August 18, 2019
Continuing with the previous post with butterflies, here is a Yellow Swallowtail series of images taken at the same time as the previous post. We have not seen as many butterflies this year as previous years. Even though at this park they have a Butterfly House and raise them to release them in the park. Plus the butterfly house has plantings around the Butterfly house to attract other butterflies. In previous years they were very abundant throughout the Park. Even Dragonflies seem to be more scarce this year at this Park also. Time is marching on and the Butterflies you see show considerable wear and tear. The Butterfly series shown below really liked this plant and stayed for about 10 minutes. I only picked a few of the images of that series to post here.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Posted on August 14, 2019
We went to a local park to look for Dragonflies, but I noticed this Black Swallowtail Butterfly on some flowers by the pond on the way in. It looked colorful with the flowers and I liked the contrast of the dark colored butterfly against the flowers.
Cabbage White
Posted on September 9, 2018
Butterfly and dragonfly season is ending, but I am still finding a few still around for some last images to capture. The featured Cabbage White was on a bush near where a Monarch was feeding.
More Monarchs
Posted on September 7, 2018
Butterfly season and Summer are coming to an end. The butterflies and dragonflies are starting to look the worse for wear. Wings are starting to look more tattered and pieces are missing. These were taken at Davidson’s Mill Pond Park outside the butterfly house that is now closed. This year with work and the weather not cooperating I never shot inside the butterfly house, but I enjoy getting shots where they are not in a controlled environment anyway. I like the look and challenge of a natural environment to capture my images instead of a “zoo” like environment.
With the wind blowing them and the branch all around and their constant movement I was surprised I got some sharp images. I was not stopped down much so I sacrificed depth of field for a higher shutter speed to help stop blur from the butterfly blowing around in the wind.
photoartflight 