While hiking near the Grand Tetons, in Hoback, Wyoming, I captured this butterfly (moth??) under the cover of a poplar forest.
General feedback is welcome. Being new the to Canon 5 DS R, and the Canon 100mm f 2.8L Macro lens, I’m struggling with capturing the full detail in macro shots while not losing the fabulous bokeh. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Canon 5DS R; Canon 100mm f2.8L Macro; ISO 200; 1/160; F4.5
Love the colors and how it harmonizes with the background yet still stands out. I can see the middle of the body and top edge wings look a tad soft. Without knowing all of the circumstances, I might suggest moving a bit farther away to give yourself more DOF while shooting wide open and also upping your shutter speed so any shake does not distort the sharpness. Just one thought…
@Julie_Steelman , thanks for the feedback. I’ll work with those suggestions. Until recently, I used the Tamron 18-300 macro on the Canon 80D which is a lot more forgiving. I’ve only had this rig about 2 months, but I’m having a blast with my new toys 
@James.Ostermann Nice work!! Don’t be afraid to stop down with that lens. You can also back off a bit and then crop in in post. 
James, the colors of the butterfly and the colors of the background are really a nice combo. That is one fine lens, and you will enjoy it immensely, I am sure. In this particular situation though, you might would have appreciated the other lens you mentioned which you could have used a higher number f-stop and still get that smooth background like you have here, but the whole butterfly in sharp detail. It appears like maybe the focus was more on the wings, and with that shallow of a DOF the head/eyes and center of the butterfly is a bit soft. I like the 100mm lens for getting in pretty close to smaller subjects, and for butterflies and such, the longer lens works better for me. Again, the colors are really nice, and most of the wings are showing up with sharpness. I find macro to be really fun, and I encourage you to practice with that lens, even consider a flash with it so that you can stop down, and I think you will find it will produce some razor-sharp images for you. There are times when we do want shallow DOF, but on this beauty I would prefer all of it in sharp focus. I have enjoyed my 100mm for years now and never plan to sell or replace it.
I like how the color of the background and the yellow in the wings is so similar-looks as if the light is shining through the wings.
@Gary_Randall and @Shirley_Freeman, thanks for the feedback. I’m going to be stopping down a bit for a bigger depth of field for sure. I’ve got a lot of pollinators (bees and such) in the bushes of my front yard, so I’ll practice on those and post pictures later. Thank you so much for your comments, as I said, this is a new lens and I’m finding out that I don’t need to shoot wide open as I did with the other lens.
