Here’s one from deep in the archives (2009) when I was first learning digital macro photography.
I love these “woodland” butterflies. This is a species that was described in my field guide as local and uncommon so I was excited to get to see this species. I don’t believe I have seen one since. But then again I’m no bug expert so keep that in mind 
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Canon 40D, Sigma 150mm f2.8 macro, 1.4x TC, 580 EX II speedlite
ISO 400, f16, 1/200s, hand held
Any comments appreciated.
I can see why you dug deep into your archives for this one, Allen. Would have been a shame for it to lie dormant. A lovely shot of this beautiful guy or gal.
Perfectly sharp with excellent management of background. By the way, what were your speed light settings? I’m just getting in to macro and am looking for advice on how to illuminate subjects properly. This looks just fantastic.
Hi @Jim_McGovern, given this shot was taken so long ago, I bet it was in ETTL mode at zero exposure compensation. I have since worked some with flash going to manual mode on the speedlite and dialing down the power as low as 1/8 or so and sometimes I still use flash in ETTL working the exposure compensation from -2/3 to +2/3 depending on the situation.
What a wonderful photo of this butterfly. I love how the colors of the butterfly and the background compliment each other so well. The composition and the detail you got in the butterfly are outstanding. Really very nice photo Allen, thanks for finding and posting it.
Allen, this looks great! The details in it’s eye are especially striking. Nice job of getting parallel to the BF.
Allen: Fabulous capture. Terrific plane of focus management especially. You should be proud of this one. >=))>
