Image(s)
Image Description
When I pick my favorites and “not quite favorites” at the end of each year, a lot of shots end up on the lists because of the excitement or fascination I felt at the time rather than due to pure aesthetics. Here’s a good example. It’s not perfect (if I were cloner, that dark spot in the lower right corner would be gone), but this photo exemplifies the tremendous fun I had photographing bugs this year. As a result, it made my runners-up list.
Insects were certainly prominent in Brazil, where we kept stumbling across cool bugs… especially butterflies. Getting my first chances to get decent photos of species like the “88’89” and “BD” butterflies (seen here), learning about the Stinky Oakleaf, Starry Cracker, and Saffron Playboy… well, these are the unexpected little treats that make these adventures in the field even more fun.
In this case we had stepped out onto a small riverside peninsula deep in the Brazilian Amazon. First, we were distracted by all the baby caiman scattered across small pools (something that also made my “runners-up” list), and then we were distracted by all the bees and butterflies. Naturally, I snapped some sharp portraits of these butterflies and their intricate namesake patterns, but I like this photo because it uses them as more of a complementary background element paired with the carpenter bee.
Pertinent Technical Details
Canon R5
Canon 600mm
ISO 800
1/4000th
f/5.6