I went to Fern Forest a couple weeks ago. It was in the low 70s and a bit breezy. I was using my 70-200mm f4L as I knew regular macro shots were probably not going to work very well. I guess you could call this an environment portrait. I added some texture I got from Joel Olives.

I know I just shared some Birdwing images not too long ago, but I came across this image the other night, and I really want to share it. The background has some nice bokeh and I like the pattern of the palm leaves. I also like the sharpness and detail in the wings.

Just in case you didn’t know, this is Australia’s largest butterfly. It’s also on the endangered species list.  So it’s good that they have quite a few these at Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, Florida.

I captured this head on image of a Coolie Butterfly the other day at Butterfly World, Coconut Creek, Florida. It as a cool and overcast morning, a perfect day for butterfly capture. When its warm and sunny, the butterflies tend to be much more active, making macro shots much more of a challenge.

I had captured images of this one before, but this is one of the best so far. The perspective was pleasing to me because I like to capture their compound eyes, and his wings were in good shape. Too often I see these with tattered wings, far from being a perfect image. I have some other wonderful images from that day I’ll be sharing soon.

I went to Butterfly World today, anticipating some great photography. The weather was cool, almost chilly, and slightly overcast, making for perfect conditions for capturing great butterfly images. They were sitting there, wings open, waiting for their portrait to be taken. They tend to cluster together, remaining still for fairly long periods of time. These three Piano Key butterflies were ready for their group portrait.

I went to Butterfly World the other day and captured this Piano Key butterfly feeding on these small purple flowers. These butterflies are  very small, about a half an inch across at the widest point. They’re bred as an ongoing research project, so there’s lot of variety among them. Some are very colorful, others are almost monotone in appearance.

And I never tire of capturing images of them. They may not vary that much in appearance themselves, but they can land on different flowers, or better yet, present themselves against colorful backgrounds. This one being on purple flowers particularly appealed to me.

When capturing butterfly images I try to get parallel to them as much as possible. The depth of field on a macro lens is very shallow, if I capture them head-on only the head or front of the wings may be in focus, the rest becoming a blurry soup of color. Sometimes that blurry soup works, and many times it does not.

So getting this one on the best angle was an added bonus. I’ve been getting some fantastic shots lately of butterflies. I’ll be sharing more exotic ones in the near future.