Still Chasing the Dream

I don't know how many hundreds of butterfly pictures I've
shot. I find it hard to stop snapping once I've started. I'ts like when you were young and went to the candy store haha. I just can't stop chasing that perfect shot. Not that I have a particular one in mind, I just want a real gorgeous one. A picture that makes all other pictures look mundane and boring. That one dream shot, that constantly alludes me, fluttering out of reach just as I reach for it.

I doubt that I will ever get it, that once in a lifetime shot. Not that I doubt my abilities, it's just that some goals should never quite be reached. You should always strive to do better - it keeps you on your toes, and besides, it's the journey itself that's interesting. It does not matter If I ever make it, I just enjoy the ride.

So, yesterday, I once again went out into my garden with my camera-hand itching for action. Somehow, every shooting gets you something different. The light is never exactly the same, the environment around you changes and gives you a different bokeh, and the butterflies themselves never behave in exactly the same way.

Having shot tonnes and tonnes of butterflies, I've learned a bit about how to get closer to that dream shot. So, here are some of my thought about macro photography, and shooting butterflies.

1) Choose a calm day - it's so much easier if you don't have to wait for the wind to stop blowing all the time, and for the bushes to stop moving. Even the smallest gust of wind can be very frustrating when using a narrow DOF - things will move in and out of focus, a lot!

2) Any time of the day is fine, as long as the sun is shining. Even late in the afternoon or early in the morning - it makes for great opportunities to get "contrasty" shots with the main subject shining in the sun! Anyway, lots of light makes for shorter shutter speeds which, in turn, makes the shots sharper. It helps a lot when working with small, fast moving subjects.

3) Always think of the bokeh. You want the butterfly to be contrasted to the background, unless your intention is a dreamy shot, like the second from the top.

4) Experiment with angles, The butterflies may be pretty with their wings out from above, but there are a million of those shots, and one more isn't original. Unless, it's exceptional in some way - I just love the colors in the top shot :)

5) The focus should be right in the butterfly's face. Just like when shooting portraits. It's the coolest thing when you get those eyes just right. You know, I actually never thought of butterflies as fuzzy creatures before I started shooting them, haha, but they are, and gorgeously so.

6) Speaking of close-ups... A macro lens might have the ability to get you those really cool zoomed in shots, but, they're devilishly hard to get just right. So, do not use the maximum zoom capability all the time, sometimes a shot from a bit "further away" can be just as lovely.

7) Composition is tricky when working with subjects that have a will of their own. A good deal of luck is involved, but you can learn to anticipate their movements to some degree, if you observe them closely.

8) Shoot a lot of "safies". Butterflies are tricky to capture, and the more shots you have, the larger the quantity of really sharp shots will be. Let that trigger finger work!

9) Use an empty mem-card with a large storage capacity, I can, literally, shoot hundreds of pictures during one shooting. And, trust me, it's not fun to have to go through them and erase the ones you think are bad because you have run out of storage. And, it might make you miss a lot of cool stuff too.

10) Have fun and be patient :)

So, those are my thoughts, I hope they helped you.

Cheers, and happy hunting!

/MrsHjort

Rugged Around the Edges

This is one of those pictures that really breaks from what I usually like to shoot. I'm really more of a nature photographer, or someone that likes nice clean shots, but sometimes I'm drawn to subjects like this. The ruggedness and the reflections just took me in, and all those lines and circles were very interesting to me.

When shoot similar subjects I like to go with with diagonals - they usually make for an interesting composition, but non-level water always looks strange. So, therefore, I broke with my habits a second time and shot it straight.

Thirdly, I very seldom go with blue, I really don't know why, but I've always been drawn to warm colors. So, here we have a rugged, level, blue shot, as far from my usual style you can get, but hey, sometimes it's nice to break with your habits. Maybe I'll try to do something like that for the next 30-day challenge.... Hmmmm, that's an interesting thought!

What do you usually avoid shooting?

/MrsHjort

Summer Glow

I went chasing butterflies again today, I just cant help myself! I've been looking forward to this all summer. It sort of reminds me of when I was a kid, waiting for my birthday to finally arrive haha. You see, I was born i August. All summer long I waited for the big day, and when it finally came, it was just marvelous! There was just one downside - my birthday always meant that the summer holidays were nearing the end, and as the days grew shorter again, autumn drew closer and closer. Now that I'm not that fond of my birthday anymore, the blooming butterfly bushes has taken over that role, the role of something you look forward to, but don't really want to experience, not just yet. A weird, bitter sweet sort of thing...

Anyway, having shot many, many butterflies, I've come to the conclusion that they're easiest to shoot late in the afternoon. That way, the sun shines beautifully on their pretty wings and accentuates their textures. Lovely, don't you think? Also, the low angle of the sun illuminates them so well, it's less likely their fast movements will result in motion blur. Quite neat, I must say.

/MrsHjort

Chasing the Dream

Just like most little girls, I have always loved butterflies, and as a grown-up, I have always dreamed of taking that one perfect photo of one. To make things easier, we have planted four Buddleja bushes in the garden, or well, it's not only that they attract butterflies, they are very pretty too.

So, yesterday, I headed out with my trusty Nikon to chase the dream. I think it's becoming something of a tradition haha - last year I did the same, but then I used a tripod and remote. I figured it would be safer, but I found that is was hard to capture the fast, and small subjects witch such bulky equipment. It was hard to compose too, so this year I'm trying without them. The result is about 20 % sharp images - the ones when there was absolutely no wind whatsoever, the narrow DOF was just right and I didn't move an inch. So the ratio might be a bit lower, but the ones that made it were much prettier - it's better to compose yourself that to hope that chance will make the butterflies step to exactly the right spot you want them to be in.

Anyway, this is my favorite of the set, I hope you like it too :)

/MrsHjort

10 Pictures of One Subject Challenge

Having scored the most points on both my entries on last week's challenge, I got to choose the new one for this weekend. So, this time it's 10 shots of one small subject, which really gets you thinking about angles and composition. Fun fun fun!

So, I chose my teapot as my subject. I love its design and its different surfaces, it makes for an interesting theme. So, I sat it down on the kitchen counter and turned it around... a lot! I got down on my knees and I stood on a chair, I zoomed in and out, and I twisted my body into many uncomfortable positions haha, and in the end, I got my 10 unique shots.

This exercise reminded me very much of when I did the 30-day challenge a year and a half ago. The hunt for abstracts was very rewarding and it made me look upon the world with new eyes. I can still find myself looking for lines and harmonic shapes throughout the days sometimes and I sometimes stop for a minute or two to appreciate the beauty of the world around me. I love that photography has brought me that!

/MrsHjort