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Celastrina argiolus.


Celastrina argiolus.
Photo Information
Copyright: Peter Stoeckl (peter_stoeckl) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1629 W: 287 N: 3646] (10219)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-06-17
Categories: Insects
Camera: Nikon Coolpix 4600
Exposure: f/8.2, 1/160 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): 'Blues' of the Butterfly World [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-11-04 8:28
Viewed: 1414
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 70
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Celastrina argiolus.
Female.

Celastrina argiolus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Holly Blue
Faulbaumbläuling
Boomblauwtje
Tosteblåvinge
Skovblåfugl
Vablåvinge
Paatsamasinisiipi
Modraszek wieszczek
Modráčik krušinový
Modrásek krušinový
Najade
Azuré des nerpruns

Family: Lycaenidae (Blues)

Wingspan: 25 – 30 mm

This shows a female of the second generation with its characteristic broad black borders. For the limited technical quality with rather poor resolution and some motion blur I have to apologize. That shot was taken „in emergency“ with a simple pocket camera while the other camera had an empty battery pack. But as this species is not shown very often with open wings, I decided to contribute that image after some hesitation.

Wide spread in the holarctic region from North Africa through temperate Europe and Asia to Japan and North America, the Holly Blue is a typical inhabitant of deciduous forests. In Central Europe, these Blues emerge quite early in the year in April and May, and there is a second generation from June to August. Caterpillars feed on a broad variety of plants such as Rubus, Ribes, Rhamnus, Chamaecytisus, Lupinus, Vaccinium, Vicia, Cornus, Malus, Prunus, Polygonum, Quercus, Arbutus, Frangula.

The Holly Blue is not a visitor of sunny open spaces as many other Blues, but prefers to stay in the shadows of trees where it may be overlooked quite often. To me, it does not seem to be very common. I always met single individuals only, and never in large congregations as other Blues.

Sexes again look different. With many Blues only the males are bright blue, while females tend to be inconspicuously dark brown. But here the Holly Blue is an exception. Its females also show bright blue colours - even in a more conspicuous way than the males. The females’ wings have a well contrasting dark border, the second generation in particular, making them look distinctively different from most other European Blues.


The camera: Nikon CoolPix E4600, 2288 x 1712 pixels, sRGB, 17mm macro zoom, F/8.2, 1/165 sec., ISO-50, hand held, no flash. 17.06.2006, 09:09.

Postwork: Photoshop Elements, slightly cropped, resized to web, resharpened, levels slighty adjusted.


Literature:

Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: Die Tagfalter Europas und Nordwestafrikas. Stuttgart 1998.

Christopher Jonko: Butterflies and Moths of Europe: http://www.lepidoptera.pl/

Thank you for looking.
Have a very good day.
Arjun, uleko, gracious, flashpoint, nirmalroberts, Patleboss, phlr, nglen, Alex99, fartash, Juyona, jrobertop, eqshannon, anel, angybone, Maite, jmp, Silke, pilonm, rousettus, tiklod, hester, vanderschelden, marhowie has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To eqshannon: emergency camerapeter_stoeckl 1 11-09 02:12
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • PaulH Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1112 W: 23 N: 3660] (13089)
  • [2007-11-04 8:55]

Hi Peter, excellent composition and exposure. I love the way the colours merge seemlessly together on the wings here, lovelt work.
Paul

  • Great 
  • Arjun Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 359 W: 7 N: 1114] (5420)
  • [2007-11-04 8:59]

hi peter,
wonderful picture..a great composed picture..xcellent details,nice pov too.
TFS

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3001 W: 162 N: 989] (2897)
  • [2007-11-04 9:10]

Hello Peter,
It's really good that you've saved up these lovely shots for us to see now that darkness has descended upon us! This is a wonderful capture of the female Holly Blue with wide open wings. I always liked this butterfly a lot as with the large dark markings it is very different from other blues. You show us excellent sharp details and the natural powder blue colour very well. Lovely composition too.
Many thanks, Ulla

Hello Peter,
Another oustanding captured from you!
perfect sharpness, superb colouration and so much details
my compliment!
cheers
tony

outstanding capture Peter
nice for colors and focus

best regards sERGIO

Hello Peter,
splendid shot with a perfect focus and wonderfull natural colors, lovely point of view and realy good composition,
cheer and thanks for sharing
friendly,
Pat

Hi Peter,
Colourful butterfly, very well captured, with nice details and great composition. TFS.
- Nirmal

What a beautiful capture! You caught the perfect pose with superb details, colors, exposure and composition. This is such a beautiful specie! Thanks,
Claudine

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2921 W: 34 N: 8658] (32266)
  • [2007-11-04 9:37]

Hi Peter. This is an excelent close up shot of the beautiful butterfly. You have captured the fine detail so well with your sharp focusing. good natural colours and a nice POv .well done tFS.
Nick..

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3591 W: 143 N: 5691] (18607)
  • [2007-11-04 9:52]

Hi, dear Peter.
What a beauty you have pictured and shared to us. The wingspread and your POV are wonderful. We can see all fine details of the butterfly. Colour pattern is amazing. It is pleasant to me to touch down of its fine clothes. I like the beautiful surroundings of the butterfly, charming buds and blurred leaves. Realistic and at the same time artistic picture. Tender song in honor of butterfly beauty. MY compliments and heart wishes.
Alexei.
P.S. I am touched by your kind words, which serve the reliable support for my life.

  • Great 
  • NinaM Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 801 W: 3 N: 2100] (6596)
  • [2007-11-04 10:00]

What a beautiful insect and you captured it with grace and simplicity. I feel like touching its powdered wings.Perfectly shot.

Francine

Bonita Celastrina enmarcada en una bella composición. Oportunos esos capullos entreabiertos para dar más belleza a esta artística toma.

Un saludo Peter.

Hello Peter
Excellent shot of this tiny Butterfly,
Perfect exposure,composition and BG,Welldone.

Good Luck
Fartash

  • Great 
  • Juyona Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2267 W: 10 N: 2646] (15625)
  • [2007-11-04 11:18]

Hola Peter,
que buena macro,
bello ángulo de disparo,
color y detalles excelentes...
saludos

  • Great 
  • lousat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1978 W: 6 N: 5527] (19673)
  • [2007-11-04 11:24]

It's a fantastic shot,i havnt the chance to see the celestrina whit the open wings,perfect sharpness,best whishes,Luciano

Hello Peter.
Great capture of this exuberant butterfly!
Excellent colors, contrast and sharpness.
Very good composition and POV.
Register rich in details.
Well done!
Best regards,
José Roberto

amazing capture, excellent details and composition

congrats

I had a chuckle..Like me you have an emergency camera. I too have one..A small Leica P&S which does 16:9...makes for great panoramic or even nice close in shot such as this one. Very good then sir!
Bob

Superbe photographie de ce magnifique papillon
Amicalement
JJ

Hi Peter,
Amazing detail, wonderful color, and lovely composition
Excellent
Richard

  • Great 
  • anel Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1730 W: 0 N: 3938] (15810)
  • [2007-11-05 1:16]

Hallo Peter,
Das kleine Bild machte mich stutzig. Was ist das für ein Bläuling? Glück hast Du gehabt,den Faulbaumbläuling mit offenen Flügeln zu finden. Das ist ja ziemlich einmalig. In meinem Bildarchiv habe ich zwei Bilder mit geschlossenen Flügeln gefunden. Wusste nicht, dass sie so ein eklatantes Inneres verbargen..
Danke für dieses interessante und farbenfrohe Posting.
Einen schönen Tag noch
Anne

So lovely - a perfect pose as if the propped there for the occasion. THey have a great way of posing for us, don't they? Amazing colors - soft but vivid (does that make sense?)
Lovely!!!

Witaj Peter.
To jedno z ładniejszych zdjęć motyli jakie widziałam w TN. Uważam tak , bo Modraszek wieszczek jest u Ciebie uosobieniem wdzięku, urody i delikatności. Detale, ostrość i barwa podkreślają wszystkie te cechy owada. Wspaniale też skomponowałeś kadr.
Bardzo dziękuję Ci za to zdjęcie i pozdrawiam
Alutka

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1899 W: 36 N: 5579] (18518)
  • [2007-11-05 6:16]

Hi Peter,
Outstanding shot with amazing colours and sharp details. Superb natural lighting and exposure and among the greens it looks majestic. The DOF is precise and lets it stand out from the BG. Excellent POV to capture this fabulous pose and the composition is just marvellous, it doesn't come better than this. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

  • Great 
  • Maite Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1007 W: 64 N: 1266] (5195)
  • [2007-11-05 6:29]

Hello Peter
What a magnificent capture of this beautiful specimen of female Celastrina argiolus, full open-winged and all. I must congratulate and thank you for this shot.
Greetings
Maite

bonjour peter
vous trouvez encore des papillon en ce moment!ah oui dans vos archives!
il est simplement superbe,je crois que c'est le premier de cette espece que je vois.
bravo et merci.
laurent

  • Great 
  • jmp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1740 W: 95 N: 2273] (8411)
  • [2007-11-05 14:28]

Hi Peter,
Very smart butterfly capatured from a really good pov in a perfect pose. Really nice natural non disturbing blurred background.
TFS and best regards,
José M.

  • Great 
  • Silke Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 727 W: 98 N: 1694] (5406)
  • [2007-11-05 15:17]

the delicacy of the blue in her wings is fabulous! I feel as if I could touch the powder through the screen
TFs
silke

Hello Peter,

Another excellent picture from you, my friend! I like the nice green bg complimenting so well the insect and showing us its environment... It seems to me that we don't see the blue color so often in nature and it is maybe why each time I see this colors I'm so frequently impressed by the subject wearing it... You did a great composition and I like the great angle (POV) you took to capture it. Details are amazing!

TFS,

Michel

Hi Peter,
very nice capture of very beautiful butterfly. excellent coloration, fine details and nice sharpness and POV/DOF. composition also very nice. good and informative notes. TFS. well done
Ahmet

Wonderful shot! We can see clearly all detail on this lovely butterfly... hairy wings :-)
Fantastic colours! Excellent DOF and BG.
My best regards Peter,

Claude

the quality is fine but moreover the composition is very good looking
regards
jo

  • Great 
  • hester Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1515 W: 18 N: 3165] (11638)
  • [2007-11-25 1:18]

Hi Peter

So many pretty butterfly shots in your gallery, I had a hard job choosing one to critique. This one is such a lovely butterfly and in a perfect pose. Nice POV, perfect sharpness and perfect exposure. Good DOF allowing the butterfly to stand out from the BG

TFS

Karan

p.s. I'm not posting until I have caught up with everyones photos, time seems to have escaped me lately.

Wonderful photo.
Never thought that there are so many butterfly species in Austria. You photograph these insects very well! Your POV and compo,... are always excellent.
Well done
TFS
Annick

Very nice inner-wing top shot Peter, the frame filling view of this little beauty can't be beat :)
Excellent work with the E4600.
Howard

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