Pearl Bordered Fritillarys and others at Bentley Wood.
I took a visit to Bentley Wood at the beginning of May to try see & take some shots of the Pearl Bordered Fritillary Butterfly which I noticed reports from the excellent Alan Thornbury’s butterfly website had been appearing in numbers in the South, and from previous visits to the wood where these were mentioned on the notice boards.
I wasn’t to be disappointed as on the afternoon in question there were lots of them on view in the walk around the woodland. Along with some Brimstones and Orange Tips also on the wing. The first decent shot of a butterfly on the day turning out to be what I believe to be a female Orange Tip (please correct me if I’m wrong). Shown below.
Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO250)Female Orange Tip – Anthocharis cardamines. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. ISO250 F8 1/250 Fill Flash.
However it wasn’t long before I managed to get a reasonable shot of a Pearl…in infrared!
Canon EOS 20D (100mm, f/9, 1/250 sec, ISO400)
Pearl Bordered Fritillary in Infrared. Taken on Enhanced Infrared Converted 20D Camera with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. IS0400 F9 1/250 with Flash.
One insect that I would like to photograph better is the Bee Fly. As there were several around the bugle along with the Fritillaries, I had a go at shooting them as well, this one I think is my best shot to date of them.
Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/8, 1/250 sec, ISO400)Beefly (Bombyliidae) on Bugle. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. F8 Flash 1/250 ISO 400.
At the end of the walk around 6.30pm the temperature was falling which meant that the butterflies were starting to rest more. The following Pearl Bordered Fritillary being inactive meant I could take shots of it on a tripod that would enable me to stack fairly easily later on in Photoshop (See my article on stacking in CS5) and also shoot in natural light (which I think is often better with butterflies if you can get by without needing flash). I find very bright weather is important for this – either that or a tripod with a patient subject ( ideally both ! ). Also I was able to get up close not just with the 100mm lens but also the MPE-65mm to take some high magnification shots.
First of all a couple of non stacked shots of the butterfly.
Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/9, 1/40 sec, ISO400)Pearl-bordered Fritillary – Boloria euphrosyne – Male – Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. F9 Natural Light 1/40 ISO 400.
Canon EOS 50D (65mm, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO400)Pearl-bordered Fritillary – Boloria euphrosyne – Male – Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm Macro Lens. F11 1/250 Flash ISO 400. Around 1.5 Magnification.
The remaining photos are all focus stacked from 2-5 shots. Taken handheld with the MPE stacks – and on a tripod with the 100mm stack. All had flash due to the poor light that was now abound, making shutter speeds very slow otherwise (1/10th) and slower!
Canon EOS 50D (100mm, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO400)Stack of 2 images of Pearl-bordered Fritillary – Boloria euphrosyne – Male. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens.. F11 1/250 Flash ISO 400.
Canon EOS 50D (65mm, f/11, 1/60 sec, ISO400)Stack of 3 images of Pearl-bordered Fritillary – Boloria euphrosyne – Male. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm Macro Lens. F11 1/60 Flash ISO 400. Around 1.5 Magnification.
Canon EOS 50D (65mm, f/11, 1/60 sec, ISO400)
Stack of 5 images of Pearl-bordered Fritillary – Boloria euphrosyne – Male. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm Macro Lens. F11 1/60 Flash ISO 400. Around 1.5 Magnification.
Canon EOS 50D (65mm, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO400)Stack of 5 images of Pearl-bordered Fritillary – Boloria euphrosyne – Male. Taken on Canon 50D with Canon MPE-65mm Macro Lens. F11 1/60 Flash ISO 400. Around 1.5 Magnification.
