A Year in Pictures – Butterfly on a Leaf

[swan_tower]

This work by http://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The thing that I’m proudest of with this shot is, it was taken at rather high zoom with my camera braced on the railing of a walkway that vibrated every time somebody took a step. This butterfly was in the “rainforest” chamber of the California Academy of Sciences, and I’m delighted that not only did I catch it sitting still (which can be damned hard with butterflies), but it came out this crisp, too.

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[green_knight]

That's a fantastic capture!

[swan_tower]

I was so. lucky. <g>

[green_knight]

Yeah, sometimes they come off. And that, I think, it the best argument for taking lots of pictures even if you end up deleting most - on the one hand, 'I'll never get a good picture under these conditions' is self-defeating (a one-in-a-thousand chance happens once a week if you're taking lots of pictures!), and on the other hand, the more you practice, the easier it becomes to make good choices about framing and camera settings, so your chances of getting good pictures increase.

Before digital, I could take good pictures of landscapes and buildings. Now I don't mind fifty blurred shots if one of them comes out just right.

[swan_tower]

All of this, 100%. Even before it was digital. People think professional photographers always snap off brilliant shots, but no: they take ridiculous numbers of pictures in order to get the brilliant ones.

[eve-prime.livejournal.com]

And the blades of grass are enhancing rather than detracting from the composition. Nicely done!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they really add interest to the whole thing -- they give it a bit of depth and keep it from looking too sterile. That butterfly was very helpful, choosing to pose in such a good spot. :-)

[marycatelli]

how stunning!