Traveling Hearts Photography: butterfly

Showing posts with label butterfly. Show all posts

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Life Cycle of a Butterfly {Days 26 and 27}

I did not get as many photos as I would have liked of the Chrysalis process as most of it happened while I was away on my work trip. However, I did get to watch the first butterfly emerge from her Chrysalis yesterday morning! Yep, she's a girl!

First Butterfly Emerged from Chrysalis

ISO 500 ~ 60mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/50 sec

Second Chrysalis Not Yet Ready

ISO 500 ~ 60mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/50 sec

And I found the most wonderful surprise! Moe made it! Yes, definitely a happy ending to her story. She is also a girl and was just released this morning. Two girl butterflies and one chrysalis remains.

Moe!! Or should I say Molly :)

ISO 500 ~ 60mm ~ f/8.0 ~ 1/320 sec

Molly Released

ISO 320 ~ 60mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/200 sec

And all those eggs I saw outside, yes they all hatched! I believe I counted 11 caterpillars at one point. They are very large and should by ready to form their chrysalis soon. I'm a little weary about leaving them outdoors, but the husband has had enough of the caterpillars indoors for now. So here's a thought and a prayer wishing those little guys good luck!

Happily Chomping Away!

ISO 320 ~ 60mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/125 sec

Capturing the Moment <3

Corrie

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Life Cycle of a Butterfly {Day 1}

A few months ago in May, I had the privilege of watching five Monarch Caterpillars grow from small babies, form their crysalis, and emerge as butterflies. I was able to take photographs along the way, but not as many as I would like. When I found this Monarch Egg in my garden a few days ago (click here for a refresher), I thought it would be a great experience to be able to blog his/her life cycle.

Day 1(Approximately)

Monarch Butterfly Egg

ISO 640 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.0 ~ 1/200 sec

Day 4

Monarch Caterpillar Starting to Hatch

(You can see the Black of his/her head starting to push through the egg)

ISO 800 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/80 sec

When I saw that the Caterpillar was getting ready to hatch, I took the leaf off and brought it inside. I didn't want him/her being lunch for my newly acquired ladybugs. I just missed watching it hatch out completely, but shot this photo just after.

Monarch Caterpillar Just Hatched

ISO 100 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/125 sec

My Boys looking at the Itty Bitty Caterpillar

ISO 800 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/60 sec

When I say this Caterpillar is Itty Bitty, it is truly TINY!

Here's a comparison with a 1x1 regular sized lego

ISO 250 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.6 ~ 1/160 sec

After I got this little guy settled on the milkweed indoors, I looked outside to see if there were any more eggs. I was surprised to see two more newly, just hatched caterpillars, already munching away. I brought those two indoors as well.

We are now the proud parents of three Very Very Hungry Monarch Caterpillars. I hope you'll join us on our journey fostering these little guys through their life cycle.

One more thing... lets take a poll... out of the three caterpillars, how many girls and how many boys? Our last grouping of five Monarchs had four boys and one girl.

Capturing the Moment,

Corrie <3

Sunday, May 25, 2014

A Birthday and a Butterfly

Yesterday was a big day around here as my youngest turned "5!" We celebrated by having a BBQ, making snow cones and playing a riveting round of mini-golf.

ISO 1000 ~ 28mm ~ f/6.3 ~ 1/3200

We've also been fostering Monarch Caterpillars and had our first Butterfly emerge the morning of my son's birthday! My son promptly named her "Joan" and we kept an eye on her to allow a safe release outside once her wings were dry.

macro shot of her wing just after emerging

ISO 2000 ~ 60mm ~ f/4.5 ~ 1/60 sec

just before she took flight

ISO 200 ~ 60mm ~ f/4.5 ~ 1/640 sec

Have an enjoyable Memorial Weekend, but remember freedom isn't free....

Capturing the Moment,

Corrie <3

Monday, November 18, 2013

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

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

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Fern Forest Nature Center, Coconut Creek, FL

One of my stops while in Florida this past summer was at Fern Forest Nature Center located in Coconut Creek. The Nature Center starts with a boardwalk that winds and weaves its way through the the green foliage. There are several different trails you can take. We stayed on the one that had the boardwalk.

Now I know that ferns are green, and I know that the name of the center was "Fern Forest," however I was really hoping for some more color. It is possible that visiting earlier in the Spring may have resulted in some more blooms. There also was not a whole lot of wildlife around, but we did locate many spiders and several butterflies along our walk. The spider below had such a large and intricate web for such a small spider. I've found when shooting spiders and spiderwebs, to use manual focus. It is the easiest way to get the web in focus. When using autofocus, the camera has a difficult time "seeing" what you are trying to photograph.

The kids had an adventure filled time. They went on "nature hikes" exploring and directing which way we should go next. The center also had a very family and kid friendly welcome center with puzzles, games, bathrooms and even a nice sized snake (safely behind glass).

This was one of the few flowers I did find in bloom. I added a texture to this photo in photoshop. For those of you that don't know, you can get free actions and textures from Rita at The Coffeeshop Blog.

The lighting was magnificent while I was there. Even though it was the middle of the day, there was such dense foliage that the light filtered through in the most beautiful way. All the bokeh you see in these photos is completely natural. The natural backlighting combined with a large aperture (small depth of field) produces the circles of light you see in the background. This is an airplant, very common in South Florida.

As we were getting ready to leave, this Orange Ruddy Daggerwing Butterfly landed very close to me. I set up my camera in hopes it would open it's wings. After shooting a few photographs I took the gamble of changing my lens. I wanted to use my macro lens to get closer detail (60mm) that my telephoto lens was not capable of (28-135mm). I knew that by moving though, the butterfly would probably fly away.

So I bent down to change lenses and the butterfly in fact fluttered off. He didn't go far though and ended up sunbathing in the most perfect light.

Had I not hung around, had I not been patient, I would have never gotten these two shots. I love the first one because of the bokeh in the background and the view from under the wing. And the second one, well I just love the way the wing is illuminated from the sun. This is something that no amount of editing can recreate.

In photography, having patience is just as important as having the right camera equipment. Be patient, be still, and see what is going on around you. When you slow down and look around, you will see all of nature's beauty.

Don't forget to become a facebook fan here. Also check out my website here where you can order any of the prints you see on this blog. If you don't see a print listed, send me an email to travelingheartsphotography@gmail.com and I will help you out! Also check out my ETSY store here.

Happy Shooting!

Corrie