*** Remember, as you are viewing the photos, double click on the picture to enlarge it; click the right side of the photo to move to the next one; click the left side to back up. By doing this, the shots are much larger, sharper and have more brightness.
During the past 10 days or so, butterflies of all shapes and sizes have appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Some are migrating through south Texas, but many are hatching here. I suppose the September rains had a lot to do with that. With trips to Falcon State Park, the Hidalgo Pumphouse and the Estero Llano Grande State Park butterfly gardens this week, I accumulated a huge file that needs sorting.
This Queen was sunning on a cattail at the edge of a marsh in the Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco.
We are getting ready to do our Fall Foliage and Bird Instructional Photo Tour at the Block Creek Ranch near Fredericksburg, Texas in about three weeks. With all the recent rainfall up there, conditions are looking very good. There are still two slots available, so it’s not to late to sign on for some good Texas hill country photography.
I will share a few of the butterfly shots with you in this newsletter. There is nothing too tricky about them except that they took a lot of work. Most of the shots were taken from near ground level. When you are as tall as me, that makes butterfly photography a little difficult. Of course, I used the knee pads a lot. If you have photographed with me, you know those kneepads are on for every shoot because I do a lot of work from ground level.
Common and Tropical Buckeyes (this one is a common) were feeding on mistflower at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco where I took this shot.
All of the shots were taken from the Gitzo carbon fiber tripod mounted with an Arca Swiss monoball head mount for the Canon 50D camera (with 1.6X magnification factor because of the smaller sensor), 300 mm IS Canon lens and 25 mm extension tube. As you probably know, the extension tube allows me to focus in closer than the lens would normally permit. For a handfull of the shots, I used the 1.4X teleconverter on the 300 mm lens. That gives me a lot of magnification, but these days my technique is good enough that I can get close enough to the butterflies for tight shots without the extra lens power. Practice, practice, practice…pixels are free.
The dime-sized Fiery Skipper usually requires a close-up lens or the addition of a 1.4X teleconverter to my 300 mm lens to get adequate magnification.
Most of the butterflies like this Gray Hairstreak seem to prefer feeding on mist flower, even when a variety of flowers are available.
Gulf Fritillaries are an exception to the mist flower preference. These guys prefer the red and orange flowers like Turk's Cap and Lantana.
The Long-tailed Skipper seems drab until maginified with the lens. Then, its wing markings and beautiful, aqua-colored head and thorax are quite striking.
The Lyside Sulphur is a medium-sized butterfly with a hint of bright yellow on the underside of the forewing.
The little Theona Checkerspot is beautiful on top and bottom.
In south Texas, there are many butterfly species with roughly similar markings to the Theona Checkerspot. Those of us who aren’t serious butterfly observers have to keep the book with us at all times.
White Peacock butterflies are large and relatively easy to approach for photography.
Most of the time, I prefer to photograph butteflies at a location where I can blur the background into a smooth green. With the white peacock on mist flower, it seemed to look pretty good, even with some detail in the background. With white and yellow butterflies, try getting low and photographing them from the underside as the sunlight streams through their wings.
If time permits this autumn, I want to work on some new (for me) techniques to get butterflies in flight. Of course, I will share that with you if something good happens.
The Rio Grande Valley is the northern extent of the Malachte butterfly's range, so we Texans don't see them often. I was surprised when this one readily crawled onto someone's finger for photos.
Finally, if any of you know anyone who is upgrading their equipment and has some Nikon gear they want to sell, let me know. One of our readers is looking to purchase a few items.
Remember, “…we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him…”.
Larry
Great stuff, my Mist Flowers are finally started to bloom, went all year without anything….maybe I’ll get some butterflies come in on Sunday, have a family shoot Saturday morning and gotta be ready for the Trick or Treater’s that evening….thanks for sharing the Butterflies…the Malachte is awesome…..sgs