Vanessa Atalanta (Red Admiral)

Vanessa atalanta (common name: Red Admiral)

During a walk through the woods I took a photo of this nice butterfly. The composition was awful, but with cropping I managed to "save" the photo.

Photo by Frank Panis

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: AF-S VR 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/160s - f6.3
Flash: none
Support: handheld with VR
Image: RAW, converted in Nikon CNX 2.1.1

Red Admiral II

You can see them in the Mediterranean region around October. Colorful, playful and almost everywhere. The first time I saw one of them (I have recently grown the habit of looking carefully around when I walk home from work) I didn't have a camera with me. Next day I came back and searched for them. Getting a shot of them in the air is almost impossible due to the erratic mode of flight they have so I decided to wait till they rested somewhere close. Despite the rather long focal length of my lens (200 mm) most of the times they chose to rest at places well beyond reach like tall branches of the pine trees (first photo). I decided to watch which were the preferred place and then closed in and stayed motionless for several minutes till one of them decided to rest quite close to me. Needless to say, when the flash fired it flew away but still I was able to take two photos of it. After several minutes of walking further I found one resting on the ground, enjoying the last rays of the sun, so I was able to take a close up shot. Unfortunately, the wings were closed this time. Special thanks are due to Matt Rowlings for identifying this butterfly. You can read more about it at his site .   

Photos by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

1. Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Nikkor AF 80-200 mm f/2.8 ED D @ 200 mm.
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/800 sec - f/2.8, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, smart sharpening added and resized.

2. Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Nikkor AF 80-200 mm f/2.8 ED D @ 200 mm.
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/125 sec - f/5.6, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, smart sharpening added and resized.

3. Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Nikkor AF 80-200 mm f/2.8 ED D @ 200 mm.
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/160 sec - f/5.6, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: NEF file, edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, smart sharpening added and resized, saved as JPEG.

4. Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Nikkor AF 80-200 mm f/2.8 ED D @ 200 mm.
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/400 sec - f/5.6, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, smart sharpening added and resized.