Butterfly Watch

One day as we were getting ready to leave the house, my husband made the mistake of telling me there were butterflies outside.  He then rolled his eyes as I grabbed my camera and yelled "just give me five minutes" as the door slammed behind me. 

Passion Butterfly

ISO 250 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.0 ~ 1/500 sec

© Corrie M Avila

Here are some tips for shooting butterflies:

Create a tempting environment.  You know the quote from Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come."  Well, that rings true here too... "If you plant it, they will come."  There is an abundance of information online that will walk you through how to create a butterfly garden.  I don't have anything elaborate, just a few plants that the butterflies prefer.

Make sure your shutter speed is fast enough.  They are quick and if your shutter is too slow, your photos will be blurry.  I took this shot midday but still needed to raise my ISO a bit so that my Shutter Speed would be fast enough.

Be patient.  If you see butterflies attracted and fluttering around a certain plant... make sure your camera settings are ready to go, sit down near the plant, and be still.  The butterflies will probably fly away when you approach, but if you are still enough, they will usually return.

Focus needs to be on point.  I almost always have to use manual focus to make sure what I want is in focus.  The spots on the butterfly confuse the camera's autofocus feature making it difficult to get a clear and in focus shot.

Think of the background.  Try to arrange the shot so there is pleasing/complementary color in the background as opposed to something like the side of a house or a weed.

Enjoy!

Capturing the Moment,

Corrie <3

A Few of my Favorite Things

This photograph compiles three of my favorite tools to use in photography.  

ISO 320 ~ 135mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/1250 sec

© Corrie M Avila

                        1.  Rain drops (create interest and mood to any photograph)  
                           2.  Reflection (captured the clouds in the sky perfectly)
                               3.  A Part of a Whole (can you tell what this is?)

This is something I love to do.  I know it is not everyone's cup of tea, and that is okay... but I love making the viewer stop... even for a few seconds... to evaluate the photograph, to look at the details, to figure out the subject.  

What are some of your favorite tools to use in photography?

Capturing the Moment,

Corrie

Staying Sane is Overrated

I now have a bit of time to go and shoot (with my camera of course), but I can't seem to find my internal motivation.  If I do go out, the weather doesn't cooperate, the mosquitos are biting me, my flip flops are getting muddy, my camera bag is too heavy, or I just can't seem to tune into my creative side.  I know these are all excuses, but at the bottom of it all, I am just frustrated.  My brain is going a  million miles a minute, trying to juggle and balance my life, which currently feels like a pile of thirty plates, stacked precariously one on top of the other.  Just today I went to my son's school to ask for another copy of the field trip form, because I had lost the first one.  Come to find out, there was never a first one, so essentially I lost a field trip form that I never got.  I'm not sure if that should make me relieved that I really didn't misplace something or worried that I am creating imaginary things to lose.

Sunrise

Instagram

© Corrie M Avila

 Sunset

Instagram

© Corrie M Avila

Today is a rainy and windy day here in Northern Florida, so shooting was not a possibility.  Instead, I packed up my computer, my books, and went to Starbucks to study.  I have a licensing exam that I need to prepare for and I have gotten very good at coming up with alternate things to fill my time.  Instead of studying right now, I am people watching, blogging, and drinking coffee.  I also wanted to share a blog I follow that spoke to me today.  I've talked about her blog before, but it is one of my favorites.  Read it, it's a good one.

So on that note, I will continue losing forms I never got, forgetting to go to activities that weren't real, and pretending to study for things that I really should be studying for.  But when all things seem overwhelming and out of control, remember that the sun always rises... and the sun always sets... and each new dawn brings a new day. 

Capturing the Moment,

Corrie <3