The male of Parnassius stubbendorfii (like other Parnassiinae) will often attach a sphragis, or mating plug, to the female after copulation. I was lucky to catch this male making a thwarted approach a few days ago in Korea. I particularly like the semi-transparent wings of this species which often allow the colours of background foliage to show through, as here.
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Any comments welcome.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
D500 + 105mm macro, 1/250 f13 ISO 800, cropped to about 40% of original. I avoided flash to try and catch the backlight, and had to do some work with Shadows and Brighten in PS.
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Mike, I also like the semi-transparent wings of these beautiful butterflies. I don’t think I have ever seen them before. The greenery all around is nice, to go with the green butterflies. Your timing was perfect. It would have been nice to have seen the eyes and head of the other butterfly, but still, you managed to capture a moment in nature that we normally don’t get to see.
Wonderful, Mike. I’ve certainly never seen this species here in Texas. The green wings are beautiful. Love the detail you’ve gotten in them. My only wish is that the background didn’t compete so much with the insects. I can’t imagine how you could have photograph them any better and have no suggestions on how to subdue the background in post processing, so I’ll just enjoy photo. Thanks for sharing it with us. Very nicely done.
Hi Mike,
Well done. The biology of these butterflies is well documented in your photo. In North America, these butterflies are found in high altitude areas of the American West. The BG is very busy, but that is what nature gave you on that day…Jim
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Mike, the details in the butterflies look very good. The transparency in their wings and the soft but structured background create a feeling like a stained glass window. Yes, it would be better not to have the two stems, but that’s not where this adventure took place and catching this kind of behavior is rare. This looks very good as presented.
