Sony A700
Minolta 200mm macro
ISO 800, 1/1000 @ f4
Most of my photography involves static subjects so I don’t have a lot of stop action images but this one is an absolute favorite. Old NPN participant Howard Cheek had posted an image of a similar pair of swallowtails a few weeks before and I was pretty jealous. Then one Saturday while looking out my front door I noticed this pair of giant swallowtails cavorting around our pentas. I had just upgraded to the A700 and was anxious to test out its autofocus and frame rate. It worked pretty well although I had to take about 100 shots to get this one super keeper. Oh well, pixels are cheap! All comments welcome. >=))>
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Nice action, Bill. The butterflies and flower are tack sharp, and the color is excellent. You might consider carefully cloning the OOF red flower just right of the in-flight Swallowtail.
Very nicely done!
–P
A keeper for sure! Fantastic image, well worth the effort. Congrats.
Oh wow, Bill, this is absolutely gorgeous! Love that they are both facing each other, and inward into the frame. The colors and the details are wonderful! Great action stopping image! 
Wow! I can see why this is a favorite of yours, Bill! Colors, focus and composition are gorgeous and 1/1000 was obviously enough to stop the action. The only blurry part of the butterflies is the distant wing which is cleary a matter of focal range. This would look good on a wall!
Outstanding one, Bill…two thumbs up on this image…
Bill, this is a beauty. Getting both Swallowtails in focus is great and they both are showing some good action. 100 throw aways from a session like this isn’t surprising, if both bfs hang around. I had two go’s at the hummingbird moths with >200 shots each session…
Bill - Agree with all that’s been said. The two together, facing each other, and wonderfully spaced within the frame are quite tremendous. Not as concerned about the OOF flower in the BG of the flying butterfly, but may dodge the dark aspects some in order to lift the shadows and decrease the contrasty-ness of that aspect. This is a very special moment you’ve captured. Out of curiosity, did you have to crop this image much?
Jim: This is almost full frame. I did crop <10% for comp, mostly on the left side. >=))>
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Hi Bill,
An excellent shot and all that is necessary is too reduce the brightness of the light yellows as they appear to be too bright on my monitor. Otherwise, well done. Happy Thanksgiving…Jim
Outstanding color and action. Not an easy shot to get.