Picture This!!

Lisa, you know I have always loved and admired your photography skills. Your butterflies are gorgeous.

Paulette, I bought a dedicated Macro lens in the spring of 2016 and I have used that lens more than any other. Butterflies are a challenge but I have probably taken maybe up to 1000 photos of them since getting the lens. If the butterfly moves it is a blurred shot as I am hand holding the camera. So I have many, many bad shots but practice is the key. You would think with practice it makes it easier but it is still difficult. The sensor of the camera is supposed to be parallel to the butterfly wings. That is a concept I cannot quite get when I am in the moment adjusting everything else. The Macro lens leaves very little room for error and that makes it a challenge but makes for great detail if you get it right.

Wren when you figure it out let us know. Actually quite a few of my pics of butterflies are quite a bit different from the outside to inside wings. I know that some of the bright colors come into play during courtship and then the camouflage part is for survival. As to how that happens I don't have a clue.

Nancy

Wren, your post made me curious. I found a site where it asked an expert is it a boy or a girl Morpho. I wish I could paste the pic in here. The female has a very washed out looking blue but still has some. I was wondering if the lighting was what made the one pic I posted look blue with a hint of the outside wing. It is interesting and the more I discover about butterflies the more fascinating they become. Thanks for your post.

I photographed alot of dragonflies this summer too. It was interesting to watch them interact with the butterflies. They definitely have some way of communicating I imagine. I will post one of those when I have more time.

Nice moon shot, Lisa.

Here are a couple of pics from a couple of different forest preserves. Fall colors not great this year.

Nancy

Thanks Paulette. I finally found the water fall I have been looking for in the past and not finding it. I have never photographed a fall and I wanted to make the water silky by slowing the shutter speed so you have to have a tripod do get that results. It was a bit of hiking with all my equipment but it was worth it. I learned a lot and experimented with many different settings to see what worked best. It was freezing cold today when I shot the waterfall. The wind was brutal. I hope to go back later in the week when it is supposed to be much warmer. It was great fun finally finding it.

Nancy

Thanks Lisa. I just had to go back to this waterfall today and try some new things and fix the mistakes I made the first time. I tried my first HDR photo. This is where you blend several different exposures together to form one photo. I used three photos in this merge. I don't know if I succeeded but I have a lot to learn with this new venture. Here is my first attempt.

Thanks Paulette.

Thanks Lisa.

Paulette, I love the vibrant colors. Beautiful pic.

Scottie lovely Fall pictures 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

loving the fall pix. Not much of that in S. Cal.

Nancy, love the fall red colors!

Beautiful bird Lisa and in my favorite color!

Beautiful pictures Nancy and Lisa! 👍🏼

Thanks Joanne. Yeah, it is a lot more fun when I know where I am going!!! I have had my share of getting lost in the woods lately.

Yeah and I am still up! It is almost 1 am. I am wiped out but I am a night owl.