Tiny butterflies (usually less than a 1-1/2 inch wingspan) that seldom stay still. This appears to be a male, as only males sport a knob at the end of their antennae. He is nectaring on Orange Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa.
Any. I wish I had stopped it down a bit to get more of the flower in focus.
Canon 60D, Canon 70-300mm IS USM Zoom, f/5.6, 1/8000 sec., ISO 1000. Processed in ACR and PSE 2020 for exposure and cropping. Topaz De-noise.
Terry, you captured a nice shot of this beautiful butterfly with wings open. I really like how the flowers pick up the orange on the butterfly. You probably were shooting something else before this shot, as I notice also that your shutter speed is much higher than you should have needed. I have done that more times than I would like to admit. I get excited about the subject and afraid it’s going to leave before I get a shot, so I click. Anyway, yes, a higher number f-stop would have been good here, but it’s still a nice shot even in what looks to be harsh light.
Great capture, Terry. When I first glanced at this image, I didn’t even see the butterfly! So small.
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman. You’re right that I was shooting something else at the time - in this case, hummingbirds. I had the camera set in Av Mode which, in Canon-speak means the camera was choosing the shutter speed. The light was harsh, and thus the reason for the lightening fast shutter speed.
Thanks @linda_mellor. I am always amazed that these tiny creatures sport such intricate patterns and brilliant colors. He was hard to see on that orange flower!
Amazing color match!! And the BF is in an interesting pose, as my eye lands on the larger flowers in the LL and moves thru the back ones and discovers the BF. I don’t mind the flowers being soft but stopping down would have gotten the front of the right wing sharper – barely noticeable though, as focus is where it needed to be.
Terry, the color match stands out well and you’ve got good details in the PC. Your framing looks good here. While these little ones don’t sit still often and are quite skittish, they will hold somewhat still when nectaring, with very slow careful movement you might have been able to the the camera more parallel to the flower and the butterfly.
Thanks @Mark_Seaver. Right after I took this shot, I knelt down to try to get another angle, and the PC took off!
