Butterfly at Belsay

Spotted this bonny coloured butterfly at Belsay Hall today and managed a couple of quick snaps before it flew away. There was also a white one flitting about but in never landed anywhere I could see. Not the sharpest but I was so pleased to see one after all the dreadful weather we've had.

K5 sigma 105mm hand held (well that's my excuse)

C&C welcome

#1
[IMG]http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g406/tyronet2000/Belsay%20Hall/JustLanded_K5_1789.jpg[/IMG]

#2
[IMG]http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g406/tyronet2000/Belsay%20Hall/Butterfly_K5_1788.jpg[/IMG]

#3
[IMG]http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g406/tyronet2000/Belsay%20Hall/Butterfly_K5_1787.jpg[/IMG]

It's a Small Tortoiseshell Stan. As for CC, I'm a bit worried I may attract some scathing comments if i leave any, but for what it's worth I do think the aperture needed to be a bit smaller to give more depth of field. Colours are lovely and vibrant and the bokeh is really nice.

Regards
David

Thanks for the ID and the comments David. I agree about the aperture too

Stan, I think number 3 is the best.
what aperture did you use?
Also did you manual or auto focus?

mmmm

Its ok not to have everything in focus. I think you'd struggle to get it all sharp even stopped down given its position in each shot.Taking that into consideration, I'd have looked to get the head and at least one antenna sharp. And I'd have happily upped the ISO to enable a higher shutter speed to further minimize any movement.

Stan, have you tried TAV mode? Its my most used. You choose the shutter speed and aperture of your choice and just let ISO do its own thing

My two penneth anyway. Where's the jousters anyway Stan

Nice shots. BUT. Have you done any sharpening on them as the edges of the wings look as though they have been sharpened to me.
CHEERS Vic.

Thanks for the comments people:

bassman : I used auto focus and whatever the camera came up with.
EXIF Sub IFD
Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/125 second ===> 0.008 second
Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 10/1 ===> ƒ/10
Exposure Program = shutter priority (4)
ISO Speed Ratings = 100
EXIF Version = 0221

I'd just taken off the 55-300mm lens and popped on the 105mm and clicked away, butterfly's etc never want to pose for me

Alan : Not tried TVA mode, usually Av mode, played around with Tv but am begining to think P mode or the green oblong mode is my best choice. Haven't really looked at the men on horses yet and my bird photos are ****

Vic : I would say that is a yes to your question unsharpmask 100, 0.5, 0

Next year I'll get some good ones

Don't go for Green! You will only be able to shoot JPEG in green that way losing a huge percentage of the detail in your shots and that lost detail is unrecoverable. The amount of detail you can claw back from a RAW file is amazing. Remember a golden rule, a grainy sharp shot is better than a blurred shot. TAV mode is extremely useful I use it all the time when shooting karting. It gives me controllable DOF and a high shutter speed, I get a fair few grainy shots but it is curable with a bit of PP.

Thanks Steve. I think I was joking about the Green Mode I do want to learn to use the camera but think my old brain is full of cobwebs. I don't think I've ever used the TAV mode but will certainly be trying it now. I think this is one advantages of being a "pupil" in a great "school" of people always willing to offer advice and answer questions.

The reason I didn't post any can be found here

link

Just testing direct posting also C&C's always welcome.

Pin the Hoop, it's more fun than Darts




Wow, so I can bypass Photobucket

Stan. Now you've found a way to bypass Photobucket please enlighten us as I find it a bit of a drag having to download to PB first then upload to here.
You can be the teacher for all of us who don't know any different.
CHEERS Vic.

#3 is the best in my opinion Stan simply because its the sharpest. The first two are not critically sharp, perhaps due to handholding at such a close range? You say you were working at ISO 100 - your K5 would have coped with much more ISO power than that so you could have used a higher shutter speed.
David.

PPG:
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

As far as I know Vic in the Add a Comment box you just click the Image Button
and a dialog box appears with a Browse button, click on that and browse to the location of the file (your prepared image) on your computer and click it. It's very much the same process as putting am image in the gallery. I worked for me. I only found out by accident when reading another thread.

Thanks David. I agree with what you say and need to think a bit quicker about what I'm doing. It may have had a bit to do with the excitement of seeing a butterfly that turned my brain off.