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Feminine Curves


Feminine Curves
Photo Information
Copyright: Ivan Kruys (Argus) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2611 W: 133 N: 7494] (23373)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-06-15
Categories: Insects
Camera: Canon 400D, Canon EF 300 f4L + Canon 1.4 converter
Exposure: f/14.0, 1/250 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-06-23 12:33
Viewed: 474
Points: 82
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Among butterflies there is often very little sexual dimorphism, as in this Heath Fritillary (Mellicta athalia), while in other butterflies like some Lycaenids, Pierids or Satyrids there are pattern and colour differences that tell the sexes apart.

But if the wings are similar in both sexes we can look at the abdomen. Males usually have a parallel- shaped abdomen often ending with a brush of hair scales, whereas females have a more oval shaped abdomen with a pointed tip.

This female is fresh and though recently emerged her pointed abdomen is already swollen with eggs that have developed after fertilisation. She was mated within a few hours of emergence. She will now spend her time avoiding other males and when ready she will lay her eggs on a choice of larval host plants that include Melampyrum, Plantago and Veronica. The development of the eggs depends on the temperature. Here she is sunning herself to speed up this development.

This species is widespread and in certain years locally abundant, in most of Europe. In the UK it is a rare and protected species and has been threatened with extinction until certain conservation measures were made. The best habitats are woodland clearings where flowers and the host plants are to be found.

In Sweden several related species have the net like pattern in common and they are therefore called Net Butterflies. This species is probably the most common and until recently was called the Common Net butterfly, but now, as changes have been made to eliminate the word ’common’ from species nomenclature, it is called the Wood Net Butterfly (Skogsnätfjäril)

This was taken at a distance of about 1.8 meters (6 ft) with the camera hand-held. After slight cropping and size reduction the image was selectively sharpened

nglen, gerbilratz, gracious, boreocypriensis, MMM, ralfsworld, fartash, Heaven, Jamesp, Luis52, Juyona, jaycee, eqshannon, bahadir, CeltickRanger, mayuresh, Janice, pekkavalo1, Miss_Piggy, anel, Adanac, Amadeo, goldyrs, phlr, ramthakur, rousettus, haraprasan, jusninasirun, yasin has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Heaven: Blurred BGArgus 2 06-23 23:12
To eqshannon: ThanksArgus 1 06-23 22:32
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Ivan, a perfect image of the butterfly, you can almost see each scale. The light on this is excellent, giving very clear and sharp definition and good colours. Wonderfully detailed composition and excellent notes. regards h

Hello Ivan,
This is absolutely beautiful first class image on the Female Fritillary!
super sharpness with good lighting and the awesome details in it, you can almost the touch it and it's so real!
my compliment and many thanks for the notes as well
my warmest regards
Tony

  • Great 
  • batu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1010 W: 285 N: 3338] (11038)
  • [2008-06-23 12:44]

Hello Ivan,
superb picture of the fritillary showing nicely the chracteristic female abdomen curves
and of course the colour pattern. Excellent sharpness and precise focus.
An attractive and admirable picture!
Best wishes, Peter

  • Great 
  • mariki Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 989 W: 65 N: 2013] (8401)
  • [2008-06-23 12:46]

Hello Ivan,

Excellent picture of this female Fritillary. Excellent DOF and sharpness. Very good composition. Wonderful light and colours. Very interesting note too.
Cheers,
Mariki

hi Ivan,
excellent capture of Mellicta Athalia
and interesting and detailed note

best regards sERGIO

Hi my dear Friend, Ivan,
Superb detailed macro capture of this beautifully coloured butterfly with excellent clarity and DOF- as usual.
TFS my friend and best wishes,

Bayram

  • Great 
  • MMM Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 755 W: 0 N: 1515] (6928)
  • [2008-06-23 13:04]

Hi Ivan
Excellent POV and very sharp image .Colors & light are beautiful.Excellent text to.
TFS Michel

Hej Ivan
One more butterfly macro shot with good duality, even both antennas are sharp :)
Well done and TFS
Ralf

...Vi har svenskt sommar med hela 16C och regn. Hoppas att vädret vänder innan din fjäll resa.

Dear Ivan
Wonderful shot of this Heath Fritillary ,
Perfect details,soft lighting and BG.Welldone my friend.

Regards
Fartash

Hi Ivan!

Your beautiful butterfly picture is well accompanied by interesting and instructive notes. From the technical point of view, the picture is fine, too. I'm surprised that with your exposure settings you get such a blurred background. Is this the result of postprocessing?

Kind regards

Markus

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1252 W: 0 N: 4842] (14380)
  • [2008-06-23 14:34]

Hi Ivan

Lovely shot of this butterfly. Great pose with excellent detail. Well seen and captured.

james

  • Great 
  • Luis52 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1022 W: 5 N: 2802] (10144)
  • [2008-06-23 14:49]

Hola Sr. Ivan.
Otra muy bella foto lograda con un telefoto, el angulo de la toma desde la parte superior nos permite ver con claridad los colores de las alas y el abdomen de este Mariposa. La nota escrita es de gran valor educativo, pues tiene en sus letras una infrmacion muy valiosa.
Saludos Sr. Ivan. Un fuerte abrazo como siempre.
Luis52.

  • Great 
  • Juyona Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 2041 W: 6 N: 2025] (13275)
  • [2008-06-23 15:16]

Hola Ivan,
preciosa macro,
buena compo, detalles y color,
saludos

  • Great 
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1786 W: 8 N: 4638] (14987)
  • [2008-06-23 16:19]

Hi Ivan,

A wonderful butterfly lesson! And a beautiful butterfly. Perfect position, as always, to show her off to good advantage. Wonderful shape, colors, and details. The wing markings are lovely.

Jane

You know so much about these Ivan....I wonder if you and your wife speak about the4se things..I know I do with Jane...but Jane is not a photographer, yet she knows a good image when she sees one...I think most of your contribution comes from collaborated image and writing..not from just one source but from many...and it is what makes you images and notes so special and why folks rely on you for correct information. You are a gold mine!
Bob

Hello Ivan, perfect close-up of this beauty. TFS. Regards,
Bahadır

Excelente luz, enfoque y colores. Una foto simple y típica de naturaleza pero no por ello falta de interés.
Un abrazo: J. Ignasi.

hello Yvan

i will star in a French word, WOW ! your image is « époustouflant »
(i don't kno the English translation), it is the very fine POV
from above that gives the superb symmetrical image with the wings,
beautiful luminosity of the image, wonderful colours of the butterfly,
great sharpness and details of the butterflu and the plant leafs,

TFS

Asbed

Hello Ivan,
An excellent macro shot!you have captured it very beautifuly,very sharp image with great details and lovely colours,superb lighting,
TFS.

  • Great 
  • Janice Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3452 W: 144 N: 5895] (17468)
  • [2008-06-24 1:56]

She has an "Hour-Glass" waist.
It is lovely to see her from this angle Ivan, so straight on. And reading your notes - what a life she has in store for her.
TFS
Janice

  • Great 
  • eng55 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 353 W: 3 N: 376] (1127)
  • [2008-06-24 3:27]

Hi Ivan,
Very nice capture.Details are crisp clear,BG,colors,framing and composition are wonderful.Excellent work!
Thanks for posting.

Hi Ivan,

Very beautiful capture of this Fritillary. Great POV and composition, good sharpness of details and shapening technique, beautiful bright colours.

TFS

Pekka

Hallo Ivan
This is such a magnificent and colourful insect. I just love the assortment of colours and patterns on the wings and especially the white lining along the edges are very eye-catching. The plumpish body is very fascinating. Sharpness, focus, light and composition is prominent. Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed looking at this one.
Kind regards
Anna

  • Great 
  • anel Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1173 W: 0 N: 1968] (8357)
  • [2008-06-24 6:53]

hello Ivan,
Happy again to read your interesting comments going with an excellent picture. I was always just wondering about the different shapes of abdomen between males and females and I was just wrong, believing it was te other way around;-(.
I have seen a quite similar Net butterfly this weekend, I'm just not sure about the species. May be I will put it soon on TN.
Merci et bonne soirée
Anne

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1991 W: 5 N: 5557] (20998)
  • [2008-06-24 11:50]

Hi Ivan. A beautiful picture of this fress female Fritillary. You have captured it with sharp focusing and fine detail. Bright natural colours. with a nicetop POV showing all the wing markings and the body. well done TFS. and interreting notes.
Nick..

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1692 W: 242 N: 5589] (19849)
  • [2008-06-24 13:47]

Pin-sharp capture of this Fritillary.
Really good detail in the wings and great clarity.
Excellent composition.
Superb DOF.
The BG is great!

Well done, Ivan!

Joe

  • Great 
  • Adanac Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1048 W: 1 N: 4156] (13964)
  • [2008-06-24 14:36]

Hello Ivan,
Fantastic image with superbly sharp details and bright colors. The details shown by your great camera work are outstanding. Your notes and this image are a real learning experience for me. Thanks Ivan.
Rick

Bonjour Ivan
C'est une excellent prise de vue en macro! Composition très belle avec de belles couleurs, et très beaux détails. Merci pour le partage .
Au revoir et Bravo....JP

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2008-06-24 20:16]

Hello Ivan

A beautiful little butterfly.
Excellent pov and dof.
The colours appear true and natural.
The focus is sharp.
Well composed.
TFS

Rob

Hola Ivan, excelente fotografia de esta bonita mariposa, buen detalle, luz y color. Un saludo

Hi Ivan

Great shot of this fresh female fritillary.
Excellent sharpness.
Great composition.
Good DOF and POV.
Good contratsing background.

Chris

Hello Ivan,
Didn't have time for a few days. This is a wonderful photo. Excellent DOF, sharpness, details, colours and composition.
Compliments!
Regards,
Peter

A lovely shot, and a very interesting and illuminating note...
Very well done, Ivan!
Goldy

You impress me with you knowledge about "feminine curves" of butterflies, Ivan.
;-)!!
This young butterfly is in strapping health as is visible from its lustrous wings and generous abdominal curves.
Beautiful capture against a soothing brown BG.
Ram
:)

merhaba Ivan,
This is a butterfly species, I have not seen. But it is one of the best. Your macro great with sharp details, simetric POV and composition. superb colors. Thanks for sharing, best wishes, friendly
Ahmet

Hi Ivan,
A lovely capture of this beautiful butterfly. Superb details and a fine composition. Thanks a lot for sharing.

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1714 W: 24 N: 4988] (16346)
  • [2008-06-27 9:02]

Hi Ivan,
Outstanding shot of this beautiful Heath Fritillary with such lovely colours and markings on its open wings. Great pose captured with perfect lighting and well chosen POV. Excellent DOF and very nicely composed. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

Ciao Ivan, fantastic butterfly with splendid sharpness and fine details, perfect focus, very well done, have a good week end, ciao Silvio

Hello Ivan. The thumbnail is attractive and begging me to click this in full view. The butterfly itself is positioned in perfect symmetry in the frame with stunning sharpness and detail. The full spread wings exposing the marking very well. The plant is perched on is so sharp with the tiny hair is well visible. What amazed me is the optics utilized in this capture. This is more of a telephoto shot than a macro capture with the result of a fine macro lens. Very well done and thanks for sharing. Best regards and have a nice day. Jusni

  • Great 
  • yasin Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 31 W: 1 N: 43] (129)
  • [2008-07-02 1:06]

Excellent POV, beautiful butterfly composition, Ivan. The lights are wonderful and so smooth. Good exposure, sharpness and lovely colours, too.
Best wishes,
Bima

  • Great 
  • foozi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 241 W: 0 N: 210] (966)
  • [2008-07-27 1:21]

Hello Ivan,
really a great butterfly shot. Very clear and sharp. Real pro shot. The colour is so beautiful and real contrast with the blurred background. The positioning is so elegent.

Regards,
Foozi

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