I thought I'd totally forgotten how to take pictures. Despair. Then I got these and wanted to share them. They feed my colour addiction. As always, comments welcome. I hope they're not too big. I've a few more I could post if anyone wants.
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Butterflies in Fujicolor (5 pics)
- Thread starter claypaws
- Start date
William Carson
Veteran Member
What did you do to get these brillient colors? Post editing or out of the camera? Really nice.
Will
Will
bazpan
Active member
They are gorgeous shots. The red on the wings has the quality of poster paint powder: rich, dense and saturated.
I keep lingering with these shots on the monitor, hoping my wife will remark upon them while passing by and then I can say "I told you I need to get a Fuji S3. I'm not making this stuff up!"
Danny
I keep lingering with these shots on the monitor, hoping my wife will remark upon them while passing by and then I can say "I told you I need to get a Fuji S3. I'm not making this stuff up!"
Danny
Christel
Well-known member
Hallo
These are very beautiful i love the colors
Not to big for me ....
I've a few more I could post if anyone wants.... ooooo .... yess please
what was the camera and the lens
--
Greetings
Christel
http://www.delbaerechristel.com
These are very beautiful i love the colors
Not to big for me ....
I've a few more I could post if anyone wants.... ooooo .... yess please
what was the camera and the lens
--
Greetings
Christel
http://www.delbaerechristel.com
acrystalball
Senior Member
Just kidding...Are you feeling redeemed? I love the how the bokeh colors so nicely compliment the foreground. They captures are beautiful! You should be very proud of these. Me thinks you are figuring out your S3 
. Did you use your 18-200VR?
BTW, if you have a chance, could you look at Zarathustra's post about overexposing for finer detail in S3 RAW images? I'd be interested to hear what you think/ if you could verify what I discovered -- that it indeed works, by an amazing amount. I am going to post the results as soon as I upload. You seem to have a scientific mind so I'd value your opinion.
Bravo, Stephan! The butterflies are so wonderful!
Crystal
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http://treehuggergirl.zenfolio.com/
. Did you use your 18-200VR?BTW, if you have a chance, could you look at Zarathustra's post about overexposing for finer detail in S3 RAW images? I'd be interested to hear what you think/ if you could verify what I discovered -- that it indeed works, by an amazing amount. I am going to post the results as soon as I upload. You seem to have a scientific mind so I'd value your opinion.
Bravo, Stephan! The butterflies are so wonderful!
Crystal
--
http://treehuggergirl.zenfolio.com/
Thank you so much, Christel. Given the lovely macros you've posted, I am flattered by your comments. The camera is S3 (what else could it be ? ) and the lens is the Nikon 18-200VR, which has just managed to amaze me here! I think a Sigma 150 beckons though. I'll post some details of how I got these colours from jpegs in (probably) my reply to William, seeing as I have to put them somewhere. Might end up in Crystal's. Depends on how the prose flows
Meanwhile, not too big eh? I'm glad about that. I thought someone might tell me not to exceed 800x600!
Thank you for asking for some more. Here are 7. I don't think they're quite as good as the other 5, but I'm still pretty happy with them. I will however, spare you the remaining 150 or so!
) and the lens is the Nikon 18-200VR, which has just managed to amaze me here! I think a Sigma 150 beckons though. I'll post some details of how I got these colours from jpegs in (probably) my reply to William, seeing as I have to put them somewhere. Might end up in Crystal's. Depends on how the prose flows Meanwhile, not too big eh? I'm glad about that. I thought someone might tell me not to exceed 800x600!
Thank you for asking for some more. Here are 7. I don't think they're quite as good as the other 5, but I'm still pretty happy with them. I will however, spare you the remaining 150 or so!
Bad Pic kev
Veteran Member
once again the color pops out at you. is are these straight out of the camera?
--
See them walking hand in hand across the bridge at midnight
Heads turning as the lights flashing out it's so bright
Then walk right out to the fourline track
There's a camera rolling on her back, on her back
And I sense the rhythm humming in a frenzy all the way down her spine
--
See them walking hand in hand across the bridge at midnight
Heads turning as the lights flashing out it's so bright
Then walk right out to the fourline track
There's a camera rolling on her back, on her back
And I sense the rhythm humming in a frenzy all the way down her spine
Thank you for those lovely comments Crystal. I'm really pleased you like them and delighted you've commented. Yes, I am proud of these. The S3 took a bit of cajoling to do it, so I'm even more pleased. And I do feel rather redeemed by these results.
And yes, it's the 18-200VR It can deliver, if one works within its limits.
Thanks for commenting on the bokeh. I worked rather hard at that. The critical thing was getting the exposure right for the colours with an aperture that didn't kill the bokeh. That meant spot metering and fully manual exposure mode. Colour saturation needs underexposure. Once I'd fixed my settings, pattern metering was saying I was 2 stops under. That was mainly because of the bokeh background, which takes quite a large area and which I wanted to go as dark green as I could get it.
The bokeh had to be planned a bit, angling the camera to get the background I wanted, trimming a few leaves with seccateurs and, for some of the shots, using a stepladder.
To keep this post of reasonable length, I'll say a bit more about settings in my reply to William.
I had a look at Zarathustra's post. I can agree that his technique could well increase resolution but it will be at the expense of colour saturation and (usually) DR. For these shots, however, I wanted colour, lots of it, and DR for the wings. So moderate underexposure was the key, as it is with slide film. I'm much more of a colour junkie than a rezzy chaser. Otherwise I'd have got a D200.
Thanks again for your lovely comments. I'm happy again now.
Kind regards
Stephen
And yes, it's the 18-200VR
It can deliver, if one works within its limits.Thanks for commenting on the bokeh. I worked rather hard at that. The critical thing was getting the exposure right for the colours with an aperture that didn't kill the bokeh. That meant spot metering and fully manual exposure mode. Colour saturation needs underexposure. Once I'd fixed my settings, pattern metering was saying I was 2 stops under. That was mainly because of the bokeh background, which takes quite a large area and which I wanted to go as dark green as I could get it.
The bokeh had to be planned a bit, angling the camera to get the background I wanted, trimming a few leaves with seccateurs and, for some of the shots, using a stepladder.
To keep this post of reasonable length, I'll say a bit more about settings in my reply to William.
I had a look at Zarathustra's post. I can agree that his technique could well increase resolution but it will be at the expense of colour saturation and (usually) DR. For these shots, however, I wanted colour, lots of it, and DR for the wings. So moderate underexposure was the key, as it is with slide film. I'm much more of a colour junkie than a rezzy chaser. Otherwise I'd have got a D200.
Thanks again for your lovely comments. I'm happy again now.
Kind regards
Stephen
First, thank you for looking and commenting and I'm glad you like them. These are shot jpeg and are virtually straight out of camera. I've cropped, less in the first sequence of 5 than in the second sequence of 7 (on Christel's comment). A miniscule curves adjustment to luminosity but so slight, you probably wouldn't see much difference in a browser. Just pulled in the empty ends of the histogram.
I didn't want to fill the histogram in the camera. I wanted a dark bokeh background and saturation in the wings. I also found that DOF was important as I wanted to keep the whole insect in focus if possible. And the flowers blow about in the wind a bit too.
All but one of the shots in the first group are ISO800, f/11. The other one is ISO400 f/5.6. In the second set, that balance is the other way round.
I set the aperture to f/11 for the DOF on the wings (in the first set, which I actually shot second!), spot metered on the flower and set an ISO that would allow me to go one aperture stop under metered on the flower and still have a fast enough shutter to get the shots while the wings were open. I checked that the bokeh background was 3 stops under and spot metered a bright part of the wing and checked not more than a half stop over (in sunshine). I used the DOF preview to check that the background was still out of focus. (f/13 would start to bring it into focus). Using manual exposure meant I could set those values and leave them set. Checking with pattern metering, it said I was two stops under. That was fine! Then it was simply a matter of compose, focus, point and shoot.
Or maybe I was just lucky!
I didn't want to fill the histogram in the camera. I wanted a dark bokeh background and saturation in the wings. I also found that DOF was important as I wanted to keep the whole insect in focus if possible. And the flowers blow about in the wind a bit too.
All but one of the shots in the first group are ISO800, f/11. The other one is ISO400 f/5.6. In the second set, that balance is the other way round.
I set the aperture to f/11 for the DOF on the wings (in the first set, which I actually shot second!), spot metered on the flower and set an ISO that would allow me to go one aperture stop under metered on the flower and still have a fast enough shutter to get the shots while the wings were open. I checked that the bokeh background was 3 stops under and spot metered a bright part of the wing and checked not more than a half stop over (in sunshine). I used the DOF preview to check that the background was still out of focus. (f/13 would start to bring it into focus). Using manual exposure meant I could set those values and leave them set. Checking with pattern metering, it said I was two stops under. That was fine! Then it was simply a matter of compose, focus, point and shoot.
Or maybe I was just lucky!
Thank you for the fine words, Colin. I'm glad I posted no 3 then! I nearly only posted one shot, no1, but I found it too hard to commit and ended up with 5.
I was about 75cms away from the butterflies. You need to move slowly when they're on the flower and keep still when you're waiting for them to land. And avoid casting a shadow on them or they fly off.
They do tend to close their wings. I found they often flap their wings open for a second or less and then close them again. Once I got a focus I was happy with, I was half pressed on the shutter, waiting for the wing to flap open. Mostly, I was on 1/500s to 1/1000s, so I could react quickly without camera shake problems. In a few of those shots though, they were enjoying the sun and had open wings for a half minute or so!
I was about 75cms away from the butterflies. You need to move slowly when they're on the flower and keep still when you're waiting for them to land. And avoid casting a shadow on them or they fly off.
They do tend to close their wings. I found they often flap their wings open for a second or less and then close them again. Once I got a focus I was happy with, I was half pressed on the shutter, waiting for the wing to flap open. Mostly, I was on 1/500s to 1/1000s, so I could react quickly without camera shake problems. In a few of those shots though, they were enjoying the sun and had open wings for a half minute or so!
Thank you for looking and commenting, Danny. Those red wings do look like poster paint, I agree. You can almost feel the fragile, powdery texture. The S3 amazes me the way it can capture that.
I am delighted to think these shots might persuade your wife to let you get an S3. I'm not sure if you'll find one in the UK now unless you're very lucky. Meanwhile, I hope she has a pleasant surprise if she sees one of these lovely creatures on the monitor.
I am delighted to think these shots might persuade your wife to let you get an S3. I'm not sure if you'll find one in the UK now unless you're very lucky. Meanwhile, I hope she has a pleasant surprise if she sees one of these lovely creatures on the monitor.
Cyrus kamak
Senior Member
You have more than redeemed yurself. You have redeamed the S3 and the Juji company as well!
The spot metering along with your skilful approach have resulted in images that we can all be proud of, great work my friend!
Best regards.
The spot metering along with your skilful approach have resulted in images that we can all be proud of, great work my friend!
Best regards.
acrystalball
Senior Member
METICULOUS! LOLOLOL. I loved reading how you set up the shots.
I'm learning from you -- and have come to the conclusion that someday we need to enjoy a fine draught togther while talking S3 and pottery shop.
Its been 21 years since I've been to GB! I was only 14 when I traveled there. So many photogenic locales, flora and people...I'm jealous!
Warmly,
Crystal
--
http://treehuggergirl.zenfolio.com/
I'm learning from you -- and have come to the conclusion that someday we need to enjoy a fine draught togther while talking S3 and pottery shop.
Its been 21 years since I've been to GB! I was only 14 when I traveled there. So many photogenic locales, flora and people...I'm jealous!
Warmly,
Crystal
--
http://treehuggergirl.zenfolio.com/
Christel
Well-known member
Hallo Claypaws
Thanks for posting the others , i like the last one
Also thanks for the info
--
Greetings
Christel
http://www.delbaerechristel.com
Thanks for posting the others , i like the last one
Also thanks for the info
--
Greetings
Christel
http://www.delbaerechristel.com
Martin Pollack
Active member
I'm just tuning in to this discussion and am envious of the images I'm seeing. Great shots.
Can I get some guidance on macro lenses. I have an S2 but have never used a macro.
1)What's out there that gives such nice sharpness and color but is not going to require a new mortgage???
2)How close do you need to be to get the shots?/ Hence , what size lens and ,
3)isn't the zoom going to detract from quality??
4)I've heard Tamron makes some high quality at a good price but have little to go on.
I'd be grateful for some advice.
Marty
Can I get some guidance on macro lenses. I have an S2 but have never used a macro.
1)What's out there that gives such nice sharpness and color but is not going to require a new mortgage???
2)How close do you need to be to get the shots?/ Hence , what size lens and ,
3)isn't the zoom going to detract from quality??
4)I've heard Tamron makes some high quality at a good price but have little to go on.
I'd be grateful for some advice.
Marty
OK, meticulous it is then! I'm so glad you shouted that. I'm pleased you enjoyed reading the shot set up blurb. What strange minds photographers have, to be excited by these things.
Your "conclusion" is a most appealing one. If you're planning to visit GB, that would be great. Pot and camera worship, eh?
Kind regards,
Stephen
Your "conclusion" is a most appealing one. If you're planning to visit GB, that would be great. Pot and camera worship, eh?
Kind regards,
Stephen
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