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Ochlodes sylvanus


Ochlodes sylvanus
Photo Information
Copyright: Nigel Deacon (Merlin) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 393 W: 230 N: 340] (1094)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2009-06-26
Categories: Insects
Camera: Nikon D300, Nikkor AF Micro 105 mm f/2.8
Exposure: f/11, 1/320 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2009-07-27 7:00
Viewed: 327
Points: 26
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
The Large Skipper is an active little butterfly, larger and more robust than the similar Small and Essex Skippers that may share its habitat in the UK.

This species alternates between perching, patrolling, basking and feeding behaviour, with patrolling normally exhibited late-morning, with perching behaviour mostly in the early morning and afternoon. When perching, the male is very aggressive in defending it's "airspace." This can make it a difficult subject for photography, as it chases off any other butterfly that comes near.

This male is a fairly unusual variant (at least in this area) in having distinct grey-brown marking on the trailing edges of the wings (they are usually more orange-brown and less well defined).

Because of the unusual way in which the skippers tend to hold their wings when basking and feeding, getting the whole insect within the depth of field is extremely difficult when working close to the subject. In this case I increased the ISO to 400 to achieve F11 and a "safe" 1/320 sec shutter speed handheld. I much prefer to stick to base ISO, as the quality is noticeably better, but in this case I compromised a little as image noise is never as evident in a well-lit scene such as this.

It's a long time since I posted anything on TN, and I have taken a lot of photographs in the meantime. I thought I would start with another butterfly shot for consistency, then introduce some other wildlife subjects later.
oldferret, nglen, flashpoint, Argus has marked this note useful
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ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To accassidy: Good year for butterflies?Merlin 1 07-27 11:07
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2419 W: 94 N: 5591] (17778)
  • [2009-07-27 7:30]

Hello neighbour Nigel,
Great photo of this Large Skipper. Impressive sharpness and details. Beautiful clear and natural colours. Also in the OOF BG. Very nice composition and POV.
Regards,
Peter

Hi Nigel!

Wonderful details and sharpness in your capture, and I also like involving those colorful flowers this much, it brings nice contrast to your image! Perfect dof also, TFS!

Also thanks for your words and workshop on my flaycatcher image, it really is useful! I'll pay attention to this in my next post ;)

Best regards,
Andor

Hi Nigel,

A goood shot of the skipper, good focus and dof with great detail. I like the pose on the flowers.

TFS regards Bill

Hi Nigel
A goos shot of this small butterfly with sharp details. Good DOF to make the subject stand out. My only criticism is that the flowers look a little overexposed (at least on my monitor).
Kind Regards
Vinny

Ciao Nigel, beautiful little skipper on a lovely flower, fine details and excellent sharpness, wonderful natural colors, very well done, ciao Silvio

  • Great 
  • joska Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 422 W: 0 N: 1041] (5646)
  • [2009-07-27 10:25]

Very good macro, congratulations!

Hello Nigel,
Pin-sharp with very good colours and a beautiful comosition. We are having a good year for butterflies for once!! Thanks.
Alan

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2926 W: 34 N: 8678] (32334)
  • [2009-07-27 11:46]

Hi Nigel. A fine close up of the Large Skipper. Taken with good detai land sharp focusing. From your top pOV we can see all of the wing markings which you have taken with such natural colours. well done TFS.
Nick..

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2705 W: 74 N: 8864] (30243)
  • [2009-07-27 12:06]

Hello Nigel!

Very sunny, colorfull and smmer picture of Large Skipper. POV is very good, we can see all details on wings and sharp eye. Even antennae are perfectly sharp. Well composed with flower and green BG. Good macro work.

Hi,
Good viewpoint and fine capture of this beautiful skipper, only the flowers are bit brighter which could be adjusted a bit. tfs.
nagraj.v

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3840 W: 190 N: 11430] (35227)
  • [2009-07-28 3:26]

Hello Nigel,
This is a technically excellent macro capturing this male Large Skipper with as good as total sharpness, not easy from this latero-dorsal POV. The details, including the black sex band are well seen against a fine natural Bg and the composition with the cruciferous flowers (Lady's Smock?) make this a fine illustration of the species.
Thanks and kind regards,
Ivan

  • Great 
  • lousat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1982 W: 6 N: 5529] (19689)
  • [2009-07-28 12:21]

Hi Nigel,fanatstic close-up of this large skipper.I like a lot the point of view and a top quality of sharpness and colors.Very professional work,my best compliments,have a nice day,LUCIANO

ciao Nigel!
what winning in this macro, in addition to the excellent definition, is the Pov, that makes the capture, a three-dimensional image.....

best sERGIO

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