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Bhutanese Butterfly
Bhutanese Butterfly
Dr.Confuser


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2008-10 (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Nikon D3
Lens: Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR
Location: Punahka Valley Bhutan
Date: Oct 14, 2008
Aperture: f/10
ISO: 4000
Shutter: 1/8000
Galleries: Nature, Animals
Date Uploaded: Oct 29, 2008

 Photographer’s Notes
This was taken near a riverside restaurant in the Punahka Valley of Bhutan. It is certainly a swallowtail butterfly, possibly the papilio helenus variety, but I’m not sure.

The restaurant had a garden with a walkway lined with the purple flowers you see in the photo. The flowers attracted several dozen butterflies and some neat (but un-photographable) hummingbird moths. I boosted the ISO on my camera to 4000, set a moderate aperture, and began pinging away at 1/8000 of a second to try and stop the butterflies’ motion. These little buggers are fast!

I’m delighted with the result. Have to love the low noise of the D3. I have been reminded that butterfly photos are a dime a dozen around here and voters may be tired of them. Maybe you all have one 10 left in you for a nice butterfly?

I was tempted to title this, "My God, It's Full of Stars," a line from 2001 A Space Odyssey because of the star-like sparkles in the wings ... but I lost my nerve fearing few would get the now-thirty-year-old reference.


Post Processing
• Convert from RAW (Lightroom)
• Basic Editing (Lightroom)
• Crop (Lightroom)
• Reduce Noise (Neat Image)
• Resize (PSCS3 Bicubic Sharper)
• Sharpen (PSCS3 Masked USM)
• Removed Dust Spot and a Distraction (PSCS3 Clone Layer)
• Save for Web (PSCS3)

Camera Data
• Date: 2008-10-14
• Camera: Nikon D3
• Lens: 70-300 mm at 230 mm
• ISO: 4000
• Aperture: f/10
• Speed: 1/8000

Statistics
Place: 184 out of 394
Avg (all users): 5.6929
Avg (commenters): 7.3333
Avg (participants): 5.6598
Avg (non-participants): 5.7674
Views since voting: 1128
Views during voting: 259
Votes: 140
Comments: 7
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
11/04/2008 11:22:07 PM
Nice colors.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 11/04/2008 09:15:21 PM
Lovely shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 11/03/2008 12:27:06 PM
The color and detail came out really nice in this butterfly. Good luck with this entry!!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 11/02/2008 11:17:57 AM
What a super shot. I love those wings..incredible...I give you an 8
Ps. I have an entry in this challenge myself as well but it's not really going anywhere.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 11/02/2008 08:50:27 AM
Nice colours and I like the tight crop.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 11/01/2008 11:47:00 AM
wow! what a beautiful butterfly. just a gorgeous photo, so many colors, the detail is amazing
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 11/01/2008 01:38:53 AM
I like the way the light looks florescent through the wings. Nice capture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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