Nov

15

Photo of the Week 91 – Comma Butterfly

Filed Under Photography on November 15, 2009 | 1 Comment

This is a shot I took back in April of this year while I was on holidays in Belgium. Common wisdom is that centred subjects are a bad thing in photography, and that they lead to boring photos. Because of that I spent a lot of time trying different crops on this image to come up with a shot where the composition is not centred, but in the end, I didn’t like any of the crops and decided to just ignore common wisdom for this shot. I like how the orange butterfly is surrounded by a see of green, and I think the diagonal orientation of the butterfly makes the composition work despite being centred.

The Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album) is exceptionally rare in Ireland. I does show up here from time to time in the very extreme south east in Wexford, but those are individuals who migrate over from the the UK if the summer is very good. In Belgium however, these wonderful butterflies are quite common.

Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album)
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
  • Exposure: 1/500 sec
  • Focal Length: 200mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/8
  • ISO: 400
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Processing: the exposure, saturation & contrast were selectively tweaked in the butterfly using Aperture’s Dodge & Burn plugin

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Sep

20

Photo of the Week 83 – Grey Willow in Spring

Filed Under Photography on September 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment

This is one of my favourite photos of the whole year so far. To me it says Spring better than anything else I’ve ever shot. It’s the first leaves starting to sprout on a Grey Willow (Salix cinerea) tree growing along the banks of the Royal Canal at Deey Bridge between Maynooth and Leixlip.

Grey Willow in Spring
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
  • Exposure: 1/250 sec
  • Focal Length: 80mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/5
  • ISO: 400
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority

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Feb

11

Photo of the Week 51 – Marsh Willowherb

Filed Under Photography on February 11, 2009 | 2 Comments

I’m a little bit late again this week, though I’m a day less late than I was last week … so progress at least 🙂

Anyhow, the photo I’ve chosen for this week is one I shot last autumn along the towpath of the Royal Canal near Maynooth, or, to be more precise, between Pike’s Bridge and Deey Bridge. This is a closeup of a single Marsh Willowherb (Epilobium palustre) flower.

Marsh Willowherb (Epilobium palustre)
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
  • Exposure: 1/200 sec
  • Focal Length: 200mm
  • Focal Ratio: F8
  • ISO: 800
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Exposure Bias: -0.67

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Dec

21

Photo of the Week 44 – Amphibious Bistort

Filed Under Photography on December 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I’m not even sure this is a good photo technically, I think the depth of field is actually too shallow, but I’ve always liked the composition and the green of the bokeh, so I’m counting it as one of my best regardless.

The flower is a somewhat strange one that grows on both land and water, hence it’s name, Amphibious Bistort (Persicaria amphibia). I really like it’s spikes of pinky-white flowers, and it’s very common in Cavan where we have no shortage of either wet soil or water for it to thrive in!

Amphibious Bistort (Persicaria amphibia)
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
  • Exposure: 1/500 sec
  • Focal Length: 55mm
  • Focal Ratio: F8
  • ISO: 200
  • Camera Mode: Auto

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