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The Mazarine Blue


The Mazarine Blue
Photo Information
Copyright: Gert Ellstrom (ellis49) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3387 W: 343 N: 9479] (30805)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-06-07
Categories: Insects
Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark II, Sigma 150mm F2.8 APO Macro DG HSM, Digital RAW 200, 1.4 X converter
Exposure: f/11, 1/250 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-06-16 8:39
Viewed: 2279
Points: 28
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
First I will thank you all for the nice comments and words of my previous posts.

Even under the heat we had last week this was the only species who shoe up in numbers.
And as usual I used a tripod, my best friend when it comes to macros.

PLS.
No points for this, I have given them up like some others. I have turn of the points, so don’t waste your green ones.

I have to correct to note, thanks to Ivan.
It's a Mazarine Blue not a Green-under side blue.


The Mazarine Blue (Polyommatus semiargus) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Its size ranges anywhere from 28-34mm and can live at altitudes up to 2200m.

The Mazarine Blue's population is distributed throughout continental Europe, even reaching into the Arctic Circle, Asia and Middle East. A population of the butterfly used to reside in Britain until the population became extinct in 1904. Recently though the Mazarine Blue's numbers have been declining in European range (particularly Scandinavia) and the reason currently remains unclear.

The main plant the butterfly feeds off of is Red Clover and other species of Trifolium. Its habitats are meadows, pastures, grasslands and flowery areas. It seems to prefer places which are not fertilized and not used for fodder production.

The male Mazarine Blue's wings are a deep blue color and are slightly larger in diameter than the female's wings. The female Mazarine Blue is a brown color. In both sexes of the butterfly the Mazarine Blue lack orange markings and have a dark violet or brown body color. The butterfly has been compared to the Common Blue, and the Grecian Helena subspecies which has orange markings. Their flight time is from May to August.


Sigma 150mm Macro, 1.4x converter, tripod
ISO 200, RAW-format, av-mode, Pattern metering, -1/3 ev
Converted in Canon DPP.
Levels, Contrast, Crop, S/H-filter. resized to 800 pixels, Smart Sharpen , all in PS CS3
bahadir, ralfsworld, Alex99, mayuresh, jaycee, uleko, nglen, vanderschelden, Gert-Paassen, mariki, Miss_Piggy, boreocypriensis, bobcat08, marhowie, Juyona has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Argus: Har jag fel nu igen ;-)ellis49 4 06-16 21:41
To uleko: Weatherellis49 1 06-16 09:59
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Critiques [Translate]

  •      
  • batu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1059 W: 290 N: 3944] (13334)
  • [2008-06-16 8:59]

Hello Gert,
superb picture of this small Lycaenide. Presentation of the "hairy" wing margins is particularly nice.
This is also true for the blue sclaes at the wing base.
Really nice and natural colours and well-balanced light.
Best wishes, Peter

Hej Gert
Excellent shot of this butterfly! Sigma work very well as I can see :)
TFS
Ralf

Skulle du inte köpa 40D?

Hi Gert,
This is a very good picture of this small blue. The furry body and hairy tips of the wings is excellent
tfs
goutham r

  •      
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3584 W: 143 N: 5669] (18531)
  • [2008-06-16 9:29]

Hi Gert.
This species is the most widespread in our places this time and I try to picture them many times. Your attempt is excellent. Especially I like amazing composition of the image, impressive POV, wonderful combination of crisp sharp image of the stem and butterfly and fine smooth colorful BG. Well done and kind regards.
Alexei.

  •      
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3808 W: 190 N: 11328] (34927)
  • [2008-06-16 9:34]
  • [+]

Hej Gert,
A very fine macro of the Mazarine Blue, ängsblåvinge, showing with excellent sharpness the underside of the wings.
The Green Underside blue has not only more bluish green on the hindwing but the spots on the underside of the forewing are larger and there are extra spots at the back of the hindwing.
Thanks for sharing this beauty,
Hälsningar,
Ivan

Jag tror att klöverblåvingen kan redan vara överflugen när det har varit så varmt!

Hello Gert,
Beautiful macro shot with excellent details,superb lighting and great composition.
well done,
TFS.

  •      
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2493 W: 11 N: 6885] (21912)
  • [2008-06-16 9:47]

Hi Gert,

Beautiful as always! The soft pastel colors and the wing markings are wonderful. Excellent details of the entire butterfly. I love the diagonal composition.

Jane

  •      
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2989 W: 162 N: 941] (2769)
  • [2008-06-16 9:53]
  • [+]

Hej Gert,
Very fine capture of the Mazarine Blue, a beautiful butterfly that is flying here now too even though there are not many flowers for it to visit! I like its pose and the fine sharp details. Beautiful true colours too and a fine background.
I hope the weather remains fine with you. Here we had rain and thunder today, the first real showers for 9 weeks!! Kristianstad and Åhus lies in a pocket with very special climate always forgotten on the weather forecast!
TFS and best wishes, Ulla

  •      
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2907 W: 34 N: 8619] (32124)
  • [2008-06-16 11:30]

Hello Gert. Amazing detail and colours in this butterfly. A great POV/DOF and pose on the dry grass. Your use of the light has given natural looking colours.TFS.
Nick..

Excellent shot Gert, with so nice details specially on its head. Best regards,
Catherine

Well done, Gert.
Well composed image.
Very good sharpness taking into account this is a 'macro'.
TFS
Annick

Hello Gert,

Nice picture from this Butterfly, exelent bg and dof.

Gert

  • Great 
  • rdfoto Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 372 W: 0 N: 719] (3295)
  • [2008-06-16 12:17]

Bonjour Gert
Très belle prise, excellentes couleurs et détails, très beau sujet.
Amicalement Robi

  •      
  • Hil Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 705 W: 13 N: 1405] (5027)
  • [2008-06-16 12:24]

Hi Gert,

Fabulous shot of the Marazine Blue.
Its a excellent pose with a nice diagonal POV.
Nice sharp details and a great DOF.
Lovely colours and light too.

Hil

  •      
  • mariki Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1060 W: 61 N: 2306] (9467)
  • [2008-06-16 13:07]

Hello Gert,

Excellent capture of this blue. Very good composition. Excellent sharpness, exposure and colours. As far as the weather is concerned, here we are back to winter and no butterfly visible.
Cheers,
Mariki

This is truely a beautiful butterfly and well captured.

Hallo Gert
A dainty butterfly with spectacular shades of blues and browns on the wings showing off the lovely markings. It is a tiny and I am sure very fragile insect. A beautiful species well captured. The clarity of the eye, paws and furry body is well seen and displayed. Thanks for sharing.
Kind regards
Anna

  • Great 
  • Janice Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3315 W: 148 N: 6113] (18648)
  • [2008-06-17 0:48]

Hi Gert
This is a lovely shot showing us the beautiful Blue and his soft lovely colours. It is so very attractive, lovely large eyes and sharp details
Well done MF
Janice

Hello Gert,

What a very sharp capture with lovely large eyes and sharp details. Particularly the hairy tips of the wings. Your notes are also interesting. Thanks for that. Have a nice day and TFS BOB

Hi Gert

Good to see you shooting butterflies again.
Great macro with the usual high standard we expect from a master :), though having a great camera must help a bit (lol)
Great sharpness and p[attern details

Chris

Excellent closeup work Gert!
So what would we do without members like Ivan (Argus) & Peter (batu)?
We might have to actually get our sh*t together ;-}}
Very nice diagonal perch and wonderful color/exposure.
Lovely BG and sharp detail with great DOF.
Howard

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2001 W: 226 N: 6845] (24727)
  • [2008-06-17 13:52]

Hello Gert,
what a great macro of this beautiful butterfly!
As usual you've chosen a great parallel POV that has made the most of the DOF.
Very sharp with great detail.
Superb lighting too.
I love the BG!

Well done!
Joe

  • Great 
  • gannu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1169 W: 4 N: 3262] (14691)
  • [2008-06-17 23:22]

Hello Gert, This is beautiful and nice. Excellent view and sharp focus.Ganesh

Hi Gert, elegant butterfly, great diagonal composition with fantastic details and excellent sharpness, very well done, ciao Silvio

  • Great 
  • Juyona Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2261 W: 10 N: 2629] (15559)
  • [2008-07-06 10:06]

Hola Gert.
Excellent precision,
color and lighting…
the beautiful details.
nice frame :)
greetings Gert and Siv.

Excellent shot of this butterfly!

  • Great 
  • siggi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1370 W: 56 N: 4704] (16174)
  • [2008-10-17 23:52]

Excellent shot Gert, with great details and good focus. Very beautiful composition. TFS,
Regards Siggi

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