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Portrait of a Lady

Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
edited April 20, 2014 in Holy Macro
These are not wild...we bought a kit with some caterpillars and all we needed to "make" Painted Lady butterflies. The kids love it, and I also got my macro set up out for the first time in a couple of years...

Here are a few shots, shot with M42 Vivitar 90mm f2.8 1:1 Macro lens and a variety of extension tubes. Cheapo ring flash.

13815391614_de66981d31.jpg12Apr2014_Crysalid splitting by Bend The Light, on Flickr

13856278823_f9b42f335a.jpg14Apr2014 Number 3 by Bend The Light, on Flickr

13856259915_ace82a329f.jpg14Apr2014 First Born by Bend The Light, on Flickr

13856298873_da67f667ba.jpg14Apr2014 First Born close Up by Bend The Light, on Flickr

13856303393_78dbbacb18.jpg14Apr2014 Portrait of a Lady by Bend The Light, on Flickr

Quite pleased with them. :)

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    StumblebumStumblebum Registered Users Posts: 8,480 Major grins
    edited April 15, 2014
    #4 gets my vote!thumb.gifthumb

    #2 would have been great....but the grill-pattern in bokeh is not working for me. JMO.

    I have learned from Lord V (Brian), that color cards turn any background into fabulous background! Cheers!
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    Lord VetinariLord Vetinari Registered Users Posts: 15,900 Major grins
    edited April 16, 2014
    Lovely captures-
    Brian V.
    Brian V.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/
    http://www.lordv.smugmug.com/
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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 16, 2014
    Stumblebum wrote: »
    #4 gets my vote!thumb.gifthumb

    #2 would have been great....but the grill-pattern in bokeh is not working for me. JMO.

    I have learned from Lord V (Brian), that color cards turn any background into fabulous background! Cheers!

    While reading up about the process, it seems any small interference can cause the butterflies problems on emergence - indeed, we have one that got caught up in a few strands of silk left over from the crysalis spinning stage. This led to him not pumping up his wings properly. He also had difficulty bringing the two sides of his proboscis together to form the tube it uses for feeding. It may not feed properly.
    Since this is the case, I have tried to be as careful as possible when photographing, and have left them comfortably in the habitat. Hence the mesh. As they are gaining strenght (although we are still waiting for one to emerge) I will try to get better photos without the mesh. :)

    Lord Vetinari wrote: »
    Lovely captures-
    Brian V.

    Thanks Brian. :)
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    StumblebumStumblebum Registered Users Posts: 8,480 Major grins
    edited April 16, 2014
    Thanks for the info!
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    DeeBugDeeBug Registered Users Posts: 487 Major grins
    edited April 16, 2014
    Nice set!
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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 16, 2014
    DeeBug wrote: »
    Nice set!

    Thank you. :)
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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 16, 2014
    A few more taken today.

    The first is the butterfly that didn't emerge properly - you can see his proboscis is in two parts, so he is finding it difficult to feed, I think.

    13903142633_fcb7b5783b.jpg16Apr2014 Poorly Butterfly by Bend The Light, on Flickr

    13903144783_2e642d097c.jpg16Apr2014 Feeding by Bend The Light, on Flickr

    13903506334_232422ed92.jpg16Apr2014 Feeding portrait by Bend The Light, on Flickr
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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 18, 2014
    Well, today was the day to release the butterflies. We released 4 of the 5 - the last one only emerged today, so we kept him behind to strengthen.
    We also released the invalid butterfly - he wouldn't fly as his wings were not formed properly - and I doubt he would survive even if we kept him. Sadly, the ants took him while he was in the strawberry patch. :(

    A great experience, though..and we plan to repeat it later. First though, we are going to send a batch of caterpillars to my daughter's class at school - they can watch some butterflies develop too. :)

    1. A bit of sun before release:
    13904359642_ac396d68b2.jpg18Apr2014 In the sun by Bend The Light, on Flickr

    2. A bit of juice for the journey:
    13927525683_648c45c9c4.jpg18Apr2014 Feeding by Bend The Light, on Flickr

    3. On the brink...ready to fly:
    13927484195_b9cb338b33.jpg18Apr2014 Ready to fly by Bend The Light, on Flickr

    4. Annie (age 5) releases the invalid butterfly:
    13904364072_1eb2fce48b.jpg18Apr2014 Annie releases the invalid by Bend The Light, on Flickr

    5. The invalid butterfly, before the anys took him:
    13927487265_a59e3b94d2.jpg18Apr2014 Poor thing by Bend The Light, on Flickr

    Thanks for reading the thread. :)
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    DeVilDeVil Registered Users Posts: 1,037 Major grins
    edited April 20, 2014
    Lovely images
    Predrag Petkovic

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/devil_macro
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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 20, 2014
    DeVil wrote: »
    Lovely images

    Thank you. :)
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