Somedays you just have to make your own sunshine, so I decided to drive up to the Pacific Science Center with Lael to see their Butterfly Garden. 80 degrees felt just about perfect. After all these gray, drab days I was delighted to finally point my lens as at something colorful.
And it’s hard to imagine anything much more colorful than exotic butterflies flitting among equally exotic flowers, which is not to say that it’s easy to get a good picture. Unfortunately, when I start choosing photos I inevitably find that shooting this close with a 70-200mm lens under less-than-perfect light conditions leads to parts of most photos being blurry. You’re left looking for the shots where the blurry areas complement rather than distract from the picture as a whole, but you very seldom find that “perfect” shot you’re always seeking.
In order to find a razor sharp image, you have to settle for a pose like this that really has about as much appeal to me as those butterflies pinned to a board.
I much prefer candid shots where the wings are at different depths and are apt to be in motion during the shot,
perched on beautiful flowers,
or ones where the color of the flowers complements the colors of the butterfly.
I love that last picture! I’ve been through the butterfly house at least 20 times and I’ve never noticed how well the wings on that species match that flower!
Those are lovely pictures. Thanks for posting them.
Your photos run the order where the mouth of the viewer changes from straight line to open awe. I agree with Natasha, the last one is the capper. Kudos.
kjm
I like the first one. Didn’t occur to me that it might look like a butterfly pinned to a board. But I love the ones with both a butterfly and a flower or flowers. It’s so good to see brilliant color on a grey February morning.
Your butterflies promise spring and meanwhile, deliver colors as lovely as spring sunshine.
Gorgeous, gorgeous!! I love the top one.
All wonderful!
i drew one of these in art…i got an A- who