Mr. Butterfly from further away

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Mike B in OKlahoma
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Mr. Butterfly from further away

Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

Image

This is the same Lorquin's Admiral butterfly I posted the extreme close portrait of yesterday. He's not puddling now, but resting on a leaf. I don't think he is responsible for the mysterious red spots, but have no idea what they are. Any suggestions are welcome.

This photo was a pain to shoot, I did NOT want the background to go black, didn't want to lose the black details on his wings, and I did want to use a high f/stop number (even as it is, his wingtips aren't sharp). And of course I had to make a snap decision before he moved on (This is why I don't photograph butterflies much!). Ended up going to f/22 and ISO 400 and it sorta worked.
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

I dunno Mike, looks pretty good to me. :D I know what you mean about that black background. I used to think it was pretty cool myself but now I have lost that attitude. As for the globs of "stuff," maybe butterfly poo? :roll:
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MacroLuv
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Post by MacroLuv »

Very nice photo of Admiral, Mike. :D
It is a kind of butterflies which likes to stay with wide spreaded wings.
The meaning of beauty is in sharing with others.

P.S.
Noticing of my "a" and "the" and other grammar
errors are welcome. :D
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beetleman
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Post by beetleman »

Very nice Mike. I think I would have tried to post process the poop out :roll:
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
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rjlittlefield
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Re: Mr. Butterfly from further away

Post by rjlittlefield »

Mike B in OKlahoma wrote:I don't think he is responsible for the mysterious red spots, but have no idea what they are. Any suggestions are welcome.
I would give good odds that the butterfly is responsible for the red spots. They use a fluid that looks just like this, as part of the process of expanding their wings after emergence from the chrysalis. After the wings are fully expanded and hard, the butterfly simply squirts out the excess. This mostly happens before the first flight, but I would not be at all surprised to see some a bit later too.

When large numbers of certain kinds of butterflies emerge at once, their left-over drops of fluid are easily (mis)interpreted as "red rain" or "blood rain". There is a long and interesting history of social upheaval resulting from these events. See http://books.google.com/books?id=45nnNHopgiAC&pg=PA299 for a description. (The Butterfly Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Butterflies of North America, page 299 and following.)

So no, NO, please don't get rid of the poop -- it's interesting stuff! :D :lol:

--Rik
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