Steemit PhotoChallenge Besties: What I learned and All My Best Photos From My 3 Day Adventure On The Hunt For The Majestic Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly!
Greetings!
I was inspired by the recent Steemit Photochallenge of which the object was to get "the best" high speed shot. So thanks to @jamtaylor for hosting the challenge and @berniesanders for sponsoring it; there were a lot of entries and the challenge was a great success!
I didn't want to use a studio and tripod to get some high speed action shots like a water balloon exploding or any such thing. I wanted to go out into nature and see if I could capture an IN FLIGHT shot of the very illusive Yellow SwallowTail Butterfly! From the very beginning that is what I wanted to achieve, and while it took 3 days and many hours, here is the photo I submitted.
You can read photo challenge entry here.
Needless to say this was VERY difficult. Although I did see the SwallowTail each day it took me HUNDREDS of photos and many hours, over the course of 3 days, to get a clear in flight shot!
To make it even more difficult I am using an old DSLR with slow auto focus and only about 2 photo a second ability. So after many failures I found a spot where the butterfly seemed to show up more often and wait at a spot with my lens focused for the Majestic Beauty to enter the frame.
This required a LOT of patience but it paid off as I got some very nice shots!
I only submitted one photo of the SwallowTail for the photo challenge, but after 3 days and many hours I did get more than one in flight and a lot of nice ones not in flight. Though even when "not in flight" the SwallowTail continuously bats its wings and only stops for brief seconds before bobbing up and down and away at amazingly quick speeds.
Here are a few of the MANY photos I got where even the quick speed of the shutter and me being prepared, I would still miss the focus by fractions or have to much movement in the camera trying to get the Majestic Beauty in frame.
Little by little I got better and also learned more about how this Butterfly moved and acted. I never saw it still for even a half a second. It was either flying or flapping its wings while hovering on a flower for a brief second before very quickly bobbing off, up and down again.
Now I will showcase a few of the other in flight photos that I got which were pretty nice but I did NOT submit in the Challenge.
Getting a little bit better!
Now here are some of my favorite ones!
This one is a great action shot of the hover effect coming in from the air as the butterfly quickly bats its wings just above the flower.
So I was very excited after all the effort to get these few nice in flight shots!
Here are some of my favorite shots where the butterfly is actually on a flower, though even then the wings don't stop!
I really like the angle of all the flowers and butterfly in this one~
As my final photo to share, because of the lighting, this was one of my favorite photos!
After days and many hours I have this to show for it! I had a great time and am happy with the photos I got and what I learned. Patience and dedication are valuable skills that pay off!
I hope you enjoyed these photos. Your feedback is most welcome.
∞§∞Blessings∞§∞
Wow!
Your dedication andpatience paid off with some truly beautiful shots!
I love butterflies and these are some of my favorite.
Thanks for sharing.
Happy to share the beauty of this life with you!
Love this story!
I saw you for hours focusing in on getting the perfect shot and how fast that butterfly was moving. Not only that but you took care of the children while getting epic photos. Very impressive!
Focus and dedication yield amazing things!
So grateful for all the beauty you bring to the world and the grace from which you bring it!
So grateful to share the dane of life!
Always so amazing to watch you focus and achieve amazing things with what looks like ease. Was fun to see you playing with photography will still heading up all the operations required of running a community!
Thank you!
Yes I was out there for hours a day trying to get these shots, and there was no way I could not still oversee and make sure things were going smoothly. The children just need some guidance and space help for them and they can play happily. As long as I am available and present I still get lots of focus time to shoot!
Nice shots!
Beautiful pictures! I'm quite impressed they came out so clear. I remember taking my daughter to the zoo not long ago, and her favorite part was the butterfly house. It was a meandering plant & shrub lined path through a glass enclosure kind of like a greenhouse, filled with hundreds of butterflies. My daughter kept trying to take pictures of the butterflies with my iPhone, but was frustrated when they came out blurry. I bet she would love to learn your technique!
Yes well it was not easy at all and with an iPhone it would be almost impossible to get one moving in any clarity to see. Maybe if you could tach one on a flower and quickly snap a shot.
Its interesting because my iPhone takes 10 photos a second and my DSLR only takes like 2 photos a second but I can put a big zoom lens on it as with the iPhone I would have to be very close to get a good shot.
I take a lot go great shots with iPhones but small things or at distance things are not the best for it.
Zoom has always been the big problem with the iPhone camera. I've seen lenses you can clip on the phone to improve the quality but they're awkward & difficult to use. I think the new iPhone 7 is supposed to have improved zoom but I haven't had a chance to get my hands on one yet.
Yes the iPhones are AWESOME as far as cameras go in phones...But in low light or small things they just don't do so well.
Its crazy because my iPhone can take 10 photos a second but my DSLR can only take like 2 photos a second. Yet the DSLR can change out any type of lens from hundreds to thousands of dollars in quality. Also the low lighting abilities on high quality lenses if far superior. Then of course you get much higher mega pixel and photo size for editing.
All in all I am very impressed with the iPhones and that is what I use 98% of the time for photos. Yet for a shoot like this I had to have the lens I did or I wouldn't have gotten anything good.
What a wonderful experience to have Quinn ~ Three whole days focusing on just the one species of butterfly, learning so much about how they act. Capturing the perfect shot is only a part of what you would have gained ~ Your whole being would have been absorbing the energy all around you.
Love all the images ~ And you made a good choice for your submission. Especially love the out of focus butterflies ~ And in particular the last, where 'Majestic Beauty' is almost out of frame ~ AND the 'orbs.'
Grateful you appreciate them!
Yes it was a fulfilling experience for sure!
Very nice, getting butterflies flying is difficult!
Yes it is VERY difficult. I know from lots of experience hahaha
Though it is doable, nice to have a SUPER fast camera which I will get when I start getting some decent photography payouts!
Nice job friend!
@kus-knee (The Old Dog)
Thanks Old Dog!
These are two of my favorites
I love the way the light highlights the wings and though the flower is in front of the butterfly, the butterfly is still in focus.
This one is a great shot of the details of its wing.
Nature is truly amazing and you captured its essence so well in pic.
Sweet success!