Photos: Earth >> Europe >> Malta >> South >> Malta >> Qawra

Register

  << Previous Next >>

polyommatus icarus


polyommatus icarus
Photo Information
Copyright: Mark Galea (magal) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 224 W: 0 N: 313] (1251)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-05-14
Categories: Insects
Camera: Canon EOS 40D, Raynox DCR-150
Exposure: f/11, 1/200 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes (Fill) Flash: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-05-17 9:52
Viewed: 3986
Points: 36
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Hi Friends,
Polyommatus icarus - Common Blue in normal english is one of Europe's and North Africa's most widespread butterflies.
Male uppersides are an iridescent lilac blue with a thin black border. Females are brown with a row of red spots along the edges. They usually have some blue at the base of the wings and quite often, are mostly blue but always have the red spots. Undersides have a greyish ground colour in the males and more brownish in the females. Both sexes have a row of red spots along the edge of the hindwings (extending onto the forewings though generally fainter, particularly in the males where they are sometimes missing altogether). There are about a dozen black centered white spots on the hind wings, nine on the forwings. The white fringe on the outer edge of the wings is not crossed with black lines as it is in the Chalkhill and Adonis Blues, an important difference when separating these species, particularly the females.
Males are often very obvious as they defend territories against rivals and search out the more reclusive females. A range of grassland habitats are used: meadows, coastal dunes, woodland clearings and also many man made habitats, anywhere where their foodplants are found.[Description from Wikipedia]
This shot was taken with the Raynox attached, which is why I opted to use F11, to offset this converter's extremely shallow DOF. Camera supported on a monopod and I underexposed by one stop but added minus2/3 fill flash to be able to use an adequate shutter-speed.
Quite a few of these pretty little butterflies around at this time of the year, which allowed me to take quite a few shots, hoping to be posting some of them in due course.
In the meantime, I sincerely hope you enjoy this and thanks for watching.
Mark
uleko, jcoowanitwong, Argus, mesquens, fartash, dew77, chrisnet, ridvan, ramthakur, izler, horia has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes.
Add Critique [Critiquing Guidelines] 
Only registered TrekNature members may write critiques.
Discussions
None
You must be logged in to start a discussion.

Critiques [Translate]

great colors and pose, nice focus great DOF

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3396 W: 172 N: 3310] (10940)
  • [2007-05-17 9:57]

Hello Mark,
Very nice capture of this Blue in great sharpness and lovely colour. Stands out very nicely against the brown background. Excellent composition.
TFS and regards, Ulla

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5038 W: 260 N: 15594] (50626)
  • [2007-05-17 10:28]

Hello Mark,
Nice shot of a slightly worn Common blue. This is sharp and well set off against the dark brown BG in a fine composition.
TFS and best regards, Ivan

Hello Mark,
Beautiful Common Blue. Sharpness and exposure are great. Perfect dark blurred background that contrasted with the Common Blue. Also like your composition.
JC

Hi Mark,
Very nice picture and very pretty colours.
Good framing, I like the blue of the butterfly..!
Good shot..!
Regards,
Patrick

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1772 W: 36 N: 5597] (18598)
  • [2007-05-17 10:49]

Hi Mark,
Wonderful shot of the Common Blue. Rich blue colour and perfect light management. The POV, DOF and great as is the dark BG. I like its diagonal composition. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

Hi Mark, Great shot, nice colors and POV. Very sharp.
TFS
Raimundo

Hello Mark
Very nice shot of this Common Blue,
Perfect details ,composition and lighting,
Excellent colors and BG,Welldone.

Good Luck
Fartash

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4432 W: 248 N: 4028] (13270)
  • [2007-05-17 11:20]

Hello Mark,
Magnificent butterfly close up.POV,lighting,contrast between BG and butterfly,clear details and cross framing are excellent.
TFS..:-)

Hello Mark,
This common blue is superb and very well captured. The exposure and the sharpness are good, a nice work, congratulations.
Regards
Christian

  • Great 
  • ridvan Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 498 W: 0 N: 1136] (5205)
  • [2007-05-17 15:16]

selam mark; wow great macro shot ,nice colours and beautiful b.fly with well presented POV . and BG. TFS well done.
all the best ,
ridvan

Ciao Mark, wonderful butterfly with splendid color and great details, very well done, ciao Silvio

Hi Magal,

These are one of my favorite butterflies
Lovely colours
excellent compo with great sharpness and fine details
lovely against the dark BG

TFS Thijs

  • Great 
  • Ken52 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 636 W: 93 N: 1243] (4195)
  • [2007-05-18 0:54]

Hi Mark,
This is excellent butterfly close-up with outstanding exposure, razor sharp focus with nice detail, and beautiful blue color. The DOF is very good with nice dark background to make butterfly pop. Nice work!

bonjour mark
je suis toujours admiratif envers les personnes qui arrivent a prendre ce petit papillon qui fuit dés que l'on s'approche.superbe couleurs et bonne netteté;
laurent

Lovely capture of this blue beauty, Mark. I am very fond of this species.
A well composed shot with vivid details and pleasant colours.
Thanks and best regards.

  • Great 
  • izler Gold Star Critiquer [C: 1387 W: 3 N: 9] (44)
  • [2007-05-19 16:29]

merhaba mark
here is wonderful close-up working on this beautiful common blue
composition, point of view, depth of field, dark background, lighting, using of flash, colours, sharpness, details, framing and note are great
thanks for sharing
greetings
izler

  • Great 
  • horia Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2158 W: 224 N: 4749] (16656)
  • [2007-05-22 6:57]

Hi Mark

Even if this is a common species, when seeing it in such great photos, one simply admires it and the quality of the photogrpher!
The composition here is simple but very effective, but most of all i love the terrific POV that gave you such a good angle for the butterfly and also made sure that there was only a blurred BG besides it in the frame.
Sharpness is excellent, colors are natural and lovely and the exposure is spot-on.

Bravo and TFS
Horia

Calibration Check
















0123456789ABCDEF