# Different lit butterflies



## doenoe (Nov 16, 2008)

Since i just got the Cactus flash trigger i thought i would play with something different lighting in the butterfly garden of Amsterdam zoo. I had the camera in one hand and the flash in the other hand. Wasnt too easy sometimes and i probably looked like an idiot when taking some of these shots, but i dont care :mrgreen:
Anyways, here are some of the results of the different light test on butterflies
#1 This is a butterfly wing lit from the back, thought it looked pretty cool






#2





#3





#4





#5





#6





#7





#8





#9





#10





I think the test was a succes  
Thanks for looking and if you want to see more, you can go to my site (www.daanschouwe.nl)
Greetz Daan


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## TwoRails (Nov 16, 2008)

Very nice work!  I like them all.  I like the shot angle as well as the lighting angle. Creative.


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## Plymer (Nov 16, 2008)

Very nice!  I especially love the silhouette in #9, and the clarity of #10.  Fantastic work!  #1 is also amazing, the detail in those wings really makes you respect the billions of insects around us...  Love the composition in these shots too!


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## outlandishogle (Nov 16, 2008)

how did you do the black background and what lense are you using? very cool stuff


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## Josh66 (Nov 16, 2008)

:thumbup::thumbup:  Nice.


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## Do'Urden's Eyes (Nov 17, 2008)

outlandishogle said:


> how did you do the black background and what lense are you using? very cool stuff


 
I believe he uses a sigma 105mm


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## matt-l (Nov 17, 2008)

Nice work, Daan. The third one looks grumpy. really like #9. nice lighting.


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## Flower Child (Nov 17, 2008)

#3 just took my breath away. cant say ive ever seen a butterfly up that close and personal. and you can literally see the dust on its wings


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## TCimages (Nov 17, 2008)

The great work continues!  Keep it up


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## doenoe (Nov 18, 2008)

TwoRails said:


> Very nice work!  I like them all.  I like the shot angle as well as the lighting angle. Creative.


That was the plan, to get some creative lighting on butterflies  Thanks for the reply


Plymer said:


> Very nice!  I especially love the silhouette in #9, and the clarity of #10.  Fantastic work!  #1 is also amazing, the detail in those wings really makes you respect the billions of insects around us...  Love the composition in these shots too!


Yeah, bugs can look beautiful when you take the time to look at them. And i just like to give people the chance too see that  Thanks for the comment 


outlandishogle said:


> how did you do the black background and what lense are you using? very cool stuff


Cheers. I use a flash and the camera is set up with 1/200 ISO100 and F14. If i didnt use a flash, the pic would come out dark. So the flash helps to expose your subject. You just have to make sure there is nothing behind your subject, like a leave or twig. Then you get the black background. And i use a Sigma 105 2.8 Macro and a speedlite 430EX


O|||||||O said:


> :thumbup::thumbup:  Nice.


Thanks 


Do'Udren's Eyes said:


> I believe he uses a sigma 105mm


Correct


matt-l said:


> Nice work, Daan. The third one looks grumpy. really like #9. nice lighting.


Thanks Matt 


Flower Child said:


> #3 just took my breath away. cant say ive ever seen a butterfly up that close and personal. and you can literally see the dust on its wings


Thanks for the compliment 


TCimages said:


> The great work continues!  Keep it up


Thanks TC. Good too hear from you again. Havent seen alot of your work lately.........but that's also because im rather busy too and dont look at  all the galleries anymore


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## eminart (Nov 18, 2008)

Very well done.  They're all winners, but my favs are 5 and 8.  

A macro lens is high on my priority list.


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## eon_blue (Nov 18, 2008)

I managed to sneak up on a butterfly today with my macro lens, but these put me to shame!

We've all seen butterfly shots, but these definitely feel unique and original. For me, the moody shadows and patterns created by the lighting (especially #7 and $9, wow!) really make these stand out.


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## Raze (Nov 19, 2008)

They're all wonderful! 
Wow - they wings in #5 are clear in parts - I never new there were ones like that! I also like the colour in #8.


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## jv08 (Nov 19, 2008)

Great shots! I love #2 and #5.


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## Robstar1619 (Nov 19, 2008)

Excellent captures:thumbup:
Awsome colours/details and lighting.


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## Kimchi (Nov 20, 2008)

Wow... I wish I knew how you get so close to the butteflies and take such quality pictures


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## Lyncca (Nov 20, 2008)

These are amazing! I love #4, #5, #9, but really all of them!


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## Overread (Nov 20, 2008)

Fantastic lowkey work Dan! 
I must say that whilst I am a fan of lowkey in general some of them are a little overdark I feel, though with ones like 7 I really do like the selective lighting 

Out of interest how hard was this to achive? Did you hold the flash with one hand and the camera with another, use a tripon on one or the other (or both) or did you use some nifty flash bracket to hold the flash in the different positions?


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## doenoe (Nov 24, 2008)

eminart said:


> Very well done.  They're all winners, but my favs are 5 and 8.
> 
> A macro lens is high on my priority list.


Thanks  Im really happy with my macro lens. Shame summer has ended, but i can always go to the zoo and find some bugs there 


eon_blue said:


> I managed to sneak up on a butterfly today with my macro lens, but these put me to shame!
> 
> We've all seen butterfly shots, but these definitely feel unique and original. For me, the moody shadows and patterns created by the lighting (especially #7 and $9, wow!) really make these stand out.


These were shot in a Butterfly garden, butterflies dont seem to be so skittish there. Really helps when you are shooting macro 
Thanks for the reply


Raze said:


> They're all wonderful!
> Wow - they wings in #5 are clear in parts - I never new there were ones like that! I also like the colour in #8.


Thanks. And i never knew there were butterflies like that until i started visiting the garden. Pretty cool bugs if you ask me 


jv08 said:


> Great shots! I love #2 and #5.


Cheers


Robstar1619 said:


> Excellent captures:thumbup:
> Awsome colours/details and lighting.


Thank you 


Kimchi said:


> Wow... I wish I knew how you get so close to the butteflies and take such quality pictures


Just have some patience and a steady hand.........and some butterflies that are kinda used to humans with a gigantic camera in their hands :mrgreen:


Lyncca said:


> These are amazing! I love #4, #5, #9, but really all of them!


Thanks 


Overread said:


> Fantastic lowkey work Dan!
> I must say that whilst I am a fan of lowkey in general some of them are a little overdark I feel, though with ones like 7 I really do like the selective lighting
> 
> Out of interest how hard was this to achive? Did you hold the flash with one hand and the camera with another, use a tripon on one or the other (or both) or did you use some nifty flash bracket to hold the flash in the different positions?


The overdark may have something to do with my monitor. I havent calibrated it and so it may be off. It looks good on my screen though.
And i shot these with my flash in 1 hand and my camera in the other. Gave me more freedom to play with the different positions of the flash. I probably looked like an idiot when shooting some of these, but i dont care. Its all about the photograph :mrgreen: It wasnt really hard, i just had to keep in mind too keep the flash at the right distance for whatever lighting i wanted. I moved the flash closer or further away to get more or less light in the pic, didnt want to push all kinds of buttons all of the time.
Hopes this cleared it up a bit and thanks for the reply


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## Overread (Nov 24, 2008)

onehanded handheld? darn now that is impressive - you have steady hands (especaily for a shot like the first!). I can certainly understand the extra freedom of movement, but didn't one hand get rather strained working macro alone?


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## doenoe (Nov 24, 2008)

Nope, it didnt bother me at all. Only thing is, that its so bloody humid and warm in those greenhouses :mrgreen: I think the thing is that you have to relax your body. If you keep your muscles flexed all the time, you start to shake. So you have to relax as much as possible.


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## doenoe (Nov 26, 2008)

Thanks for the nominations Chris


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## TwoRails (Nov 26, 2008)

Even more impressive one-hand-held!!  Heck, I shake so much I have trouble with two.

The more I look at those shots, the more I like them!  Really good stuff.


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## doenoe (Nov 28, 2008)

Thanks for the kind words


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