Dragonflies plus BIF*

AlwynS · Aug 22, 2020

OK, in this case "BIF" means "Butterfly In Flight". I have never really tried doing this before and this was a rather casual and short effort. Enough to make me realise one would have to put in a pretty serious effort if you want any degree of success. My half-baked efforts were inadequate to say the least...

And a Cabbage White against dark soil makes for severe contrast!

Some Dragonflies:

--
Cheers
Alwyn

cheddarman · Aug 23, 2020

AlwynS said:
OK, in this case "BIF" means "Butterfly In Flight". I have never really tried doing this before and this was a rather casual and short effort. Enough to make me realise one would have to put in a pretty serious effort if you want any degree of success. My half-baked efforts were inadequate to say the least...

And a Cabbage White against dark soil makes for severe contrast!

Some Dragonflies:

One of my favourite but very difficult subjects I've found! With all fairly close up shots of this type, with movement and depth, one is up against two requirements that go against each other, DOF to encompass the size of subject, and shutter speed to stop the wing movement. The whole of the sideways-on dragonfly's body is in good focus whereas the head-on one's tail is out of focus, shallow DOF, focussed on the head which is sharp. None of the butterfly is in sharp focus I think mainly due to movement which 1/1000sec couldn't freeze. You were also at full zoom just about so again, very shallow DOF and possibly a bit of camera movement? Hope you don't mind my thoughts.

AlwynS · Aug 23, 2020

cheddarman said:
AlwynS said:

OK, in this case "BIF" means "Butterfly In Flight". I have never really tried doing this before and this was a rather casual and short effort. Enough to make me realise one would have to put in a pretty serious effort if you want any degree of success. My half-baked efforts were inadequate to say the least...

And a Cabbage White against dark soil makes for severe contrast!

Some Dragonflies:

Click to expand...

One of my favourite but very difficult subjects I've found! With all fairly close up shots of this type, with movement and depth, one is up against two requirements that go against each other, DOF to encompass the size of subject, and shutter speed to stop the wing movement. The whole of the sideways-on dragonfly's body is in good focus whereas the head-on one's tail is out of focus, shallow DOF, focussed on the head which is sharp.

Indeed: I do not see any way of getting sufficient DoF on a close up shot like this to have the whole length of the dragonfly in focus. So I go for the face/head and the rest is what it is!

cheddarman said:
None of the butterfly is in sharp focus I think mainly due to movement which 1/1000sec couldn't freeze. You were also at full zoom just about so again, very shallow DOF and possibly a bit of camera movement?

As mentioned this was a spur of the moment thing and the results show that, hence my "My half-baked efforts were inadequate to say the least..." comment in my original post. Next time I do it (IF I do it again....) I would use manual exposure and try some alternatives.

cheddarman said:
Hope you don't mind my thoughts.

No problem at all: always good to get fresh eyes and comments.

--
Cheers
Alwyn

Lensmate · Aug 23, 2020

AlwynS said:
No problem at all: always good to get fresh eyes and comments.

That last one is pretty decent. Try for a 'head on' shot to eliminate the dof aspect, though with these subjects, it is nearly impossible to do, unless it's a side shot.

reduced to HD size

-Martin P

https://www.flickr.com/photos/photosauraus_rex/

AlwynS · Aug 23, 2020

Lensmate said:
Lensmate said:

No problem at all: always good to get fresh eyes and comments.

Click to expand...

That last one is pretty decent. Try for a 'head on' shot to eliminate the dof aspect, though with these subjects, it is nearly impossible to do, unless it's a side shot.

reduced to HD size

-Martin P

https://www.flickr.com/photos/photosauraus_rex/

Thanks. But I must say I really do not have a problem with an oblique shot with the head in focus and rest soft. To each his own.

--
Cheers
Alwyn

Lensmate · Aug 23, 2020

AlwynS said:
Lensmate said:

AlwynS said:

No problem at all: always good to get fresh eyes and comments.

Click to expand...

That last one is pretty decent. Try for a 'head on' shot to eliminate the dof aspect, though with these subjects, it is nearly impossible to do, unless it's a side shot.

reduced to HD size

-Martin P

https://www.flickr.com/photos/photosauraus_rex/

Click to expand...

Thanks. But I must say I really do not have a problem with an oblique shot with the head in focus and rest soft. To each his own.

I don't either..

-Martin P

sybersitizen · Aug 23, 2020

AlwynS said:
My half-baked efforts were inadequate to say the least...

I think you'll have to go back another time to score with the 'BIF'.

However, I have no problem with this:

AlwynS said:

If It were me, I'd mark the 'dragonfly' portion of the to-do list as done. (Okay, I would be tempted to go in and add some more out-of-focus background above the frame to give the guy a little more breathing room up there, but that's it.)

Lensmate · Aug 23, 2020

AlwynS said:
Lensmate said:

AlwynS said:

No problem at all: always good to get fresh eyes and comments.

Click to expand...

That last one is pretty decent. Try for a 'head on' shot to eliminate the dof aspect, though with these subjects, it is nearly impossible to do, unless it's a side shot.

reduced to HD size

-Martin P

https://www.flickr.com/photos/photosauraus_rex/

Click to expand...

Thanks. But I must say I really do not have a problem with an oblique shot with the head in focus and rest soft. To each his own.

On a side note, did you manage to capture that rare lightning storm last week? You must have had a great view from the edge of the dike.

-Martin P

AlwynS · Aug 23, 2020

Lensmate said:
On a side note, did you manage to capture that rare lightning storm last week? You must have had a great view from the edge of the dike.

-Martin P

Afraid not. I was building a new computer so stuck fully in that at the time

Jerry045 · Aug 23, 2020

Awesome as always Alwyn.

Rodger1943 · Aug 23, 2020

Great shots of all the insects. Butterflies are particularly hard, because they don't fly a regular path and flutter all over the place. My mate in Maple Ridge calls them flutterbies, which I think is quite appropriate.

Lensmate · Aug 23, 2020

AlwynS said:
Lensmate said:

On a side note, did you manage to capture that rare lightning storm last week? You must have had a great view from the edge of the dike.

-Martin P

Click to expand...

Afraid not. I was building a new computer so stuck fully in that at the time

Like yourself, I missed most of it but did manage a few before it passed through:

VGH on far right bottom

-Martin P

AlwynS · Aug 24, 2020

Jerry045 said:
Awesome as always Alwyn.

Thanks Jerry!

AlwynS · Aug 24, 2020

Rodger1943 said:
Great shots of all the insects. Butterflies are particularly hard, because they don't fly a regular path and flutter all over the place. My mate in Maple Ridge calls them flutterbies, which I think is quite appropriate.

Thanks Rodger and yes butterflies are erratic indeed! Not sure how much time I am prepared to invest in this questionable venture....

AlwynS · Aug 24, 2020

Lensmate said:
AlwynS said:

Lensmate said:

On a side note, did you manage to capture that rare lightning storm last week? You must have had a great view from the edge of the dike.

-Martin P

Click to expand...

Afraid not. I was building a new computer so stuck fully in that at the time

Click to expand...

Like yourself, I missed most of it but did manage a few before it passed through:

VGH on far right bottom

-Martin P

Wow, that is COOL!!! Will have to try it when we get lightning again.

--
Cheers
Alwyn

Lensmate · Aug 24, 2020

AlwynS said:
Lensmate said:

AlwynS said:

Lensmate said:

On a side note, did you manage to capture that rare lightning storm last week? You must have had a great view from the edge of the dike.

-Martin P

Click to expand...

Afraid not. I was building a new computer so stuck fully in that at the time

Click to expand...

Like yourself, I missed most of it but did manage a few before it passed through:

-Martin P

Click to expand...

Wow, that is COOL!!! Will have to try it when we get lightning again.

Might be some time before we get anything like that again. I was looking forward to seeing your excellent shots of it from your location...sigh!

-Martin P

DDoram · Aug 25, 2020

Nice captures Alwyn.

Dale

AlwynS said:
OK, in this case "BIF" means "Butterfly In Flight". I have never really tried doing this before and this was a rather casual and short effort. Enough to make me realise one would have to put in a pretty serious effort if you want any degree of success. My half-baked efforts were inadequate to say the least...

And a Cabbage White against dark soil makes for severe contrast!

Some Dragonflies:

AlwynS · Aug 25, 2020

Dale108 said:
Nice captures Alwyn.

Dale

AlwynS said:

OK, in this case "BIF" means "Butterfly In Flight". I have never really tried doing this before and this was a rather casual and short effort. Enough to make me realise one would have to put in a pretty serious effort if you want any degree of success. My half-baked efforts were inadequate to say the least...

And a Cabbage White against dark soil makes for severe contrast!

Some Dragonflies:

Click to expand...

Thanks Dale!

Rachael P · Aug 27, 2020

AlwynS said:
OK, in this case "BIF" means "Butterfly In Flight". I have never really tried doing this before and this was a rather casual and short effort. Enough to make me realise one would have to put in a pretty serious effort if you want any degree of success. My half-baked efforts were inadequate to say the least...

And a Cabbage White against dark soil makes for severe contrast!

Some Dragonflies:

I think they are all amazingly good, but particularly this. I would not have expected much better even if it were stationary -- and how you managed to get the focus right on the head rather than anywhere else is quite remarkable.

--
Rachael

Rachael Padman

Explore Rachael Padman’s 2,320 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

AlwynS · Aug 27, 2020

Rachael P said:
AlwynS said:

OK, in this case "BIF" means "Butterfly In Flight". I have never really tried doing this before and this was a rather casual and short effort. Enough to make me realise one would have to put in a pretty serious effort if you want any degree of success. My half-baked efforts were inadequate to say the least...

And a Cabbage White against dark soil makes for severe contrast!

Some Dragonflies:

Click to expand...

I think they are all amazingly good, but particularly this. I would not have expected much better even if it were stationary -- and how you managed to get the focus right on the head rather than anywhere else is quite remarkable.

Thanks very much Rachael but you give me FAR too much credit! Any "degree of goodness" in this image is likely in spite of what I did, not becuase of!

--
Cheers
Alwyn

Dragonflies plus BIF*

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