A sunrise, now a butterfly, what next? N70, sigma 105 hand held @2.8, sensia 100. The flowers are Bidens which are currently in bloom.

-- Larry Korhnak (lvk@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu), October 18, 1999

Answers

Nice composition, nice background....just a nitpick about the out-of-focus at bottom of butterfly and right wing. The green stem between the antennae also distracts me from looking at the head of the butterfly.

Looks similar to the fritillaries, do you know what species this is?

-- Rose-Marie Burke (rmbehr@istar.ca), October 18, 1999.

I'm not making excuses, but hand held at f2.8 and a moving subject, I feel luck to have gotten anything in focus. Sorry I don't know the butterfly, maybe Peter May or some other knowledgeable biologist can help out.

-- Larry Korhnak (lvk@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu), October 18, 1999.

This looks like a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) ......however, i haven't seen one this "red"....they're usually a dark orange...however, it could be my monitor.....the shallow depth of field makes the butterfly look like it's sitting on top of the photo rather than actually being part of the photo.....

-- Amy J Boone (boone@chem.ufl.edu), October 18, 1999.

pretty nice composition. I know how hard it is to get a decent shot of such butterflies. I live in Florida too Larry and used to go and try shoot those butterflies in a park located in clearwater. They rarley land on a flower, if they did its a matter of seconds maybe less and they move on which makes it hard to focus. Good work!

-- Ahmad Alanbaei (aalanba1@tampabay.rr.com), October 18, 1999.

Nice picture Larry and a nice border too.

-- Mike Green (mgprod@mindspring.com), October 18, 1999.

Nice shot, I agree with the comment about dof, I did not notice the stem until I read the post that mentioned it, it is not that big of a distraction to me, I was going to congratulate you on framing the head with the flower, but you said this was a grab shot, so I will say that you lucked out very nicely, which plays a bigger part in most photo's than most of us like to admit, esp. in nature shots. Pat

-- pat j. krentz (krentz@cci-29palms.com), October 19, 1999.

What stem ? Well it doesn't bother me. it's almost a 3D photo. And Good colors. Well dome.

-- santanu (santanu_nag@hotmail.com), October 19, 1999.

Yeah, its a gulf fritillary. Maybe a female - they're a bit darker and more intensely colored than males. Clearly a newly emerged individual, as it is totally flawless. So's the photo, as far as I'm concerned, but then I'm a sucker for these butterflies. Sure beats the hell out of a rooster in a net.... its good to know you haven't gone completely around the bend with your photography, Larry. Bananas and diamondbacks, performing dolphins ... I was beginning to wonder.

-- Peter May (peter.may@stetson.edu), October 19, 1999.

Dazzling colors, simple forms, nice composition. The out of focus flowers remind me of the delicacy of the creature.

I've seen it before, but never better. Salud!

-- Tony (papajmama@yahoo.com), October 19, 1999.

Hi Larry, Quite an accomplishment, I'd say, to "capture" this beautiful butterfly handheld at 2.8 and have anything in focus. Very nice!

-- Barbara Kelly (radiant@gci.net), October 21, 1999.