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Butterfly
So, last Friday I was pruning the grapes. This does a few things, the most dramatic is encourage bud break. Less dramatic, but more important, to me, it directs the way the plant grows. I can take off dead wood (and so reduce the odds of rot), and keep the shape looking as I like it.
They are, in effect, giant bonsai.
So I was looking at the Tokay, and say some dead wood, ragged and old. It wasn't anyplace I recalled dead wood, but I might not have noticed. When I reached for it, to think about getting the ball-cutter and ripping it out, I realised that it was strange piece of wood.
It wasn't, you see, in need of removal, it was hanging from some threads, about 3/64's of an inch from the wood. It was a chrysalis. What with drill, and other things yesterday (potting up the blueberry, the wisteria, shooting some plum blossoms, consolidating the worm farm etc.) I missed the good light.
This morning I got delayed (taking the trash to the street). When I got there, I was too late, and this is what I saw, instead of a chrysalis waiting to open:
So I ran in, grabbed the 200mm Macro, slapped the 2X teleconverter onto in, snagged the tripod and went to work.
Happily she was taking her time in pumping her wings, so I was able to get things like this:
The lens combination made it possible to get really detailed images, without having to get so close she was really scared, or the lens was shading the subject.
If you click through, the full size image has a lot of detail.
I'm really glad it was on a grape (and I can only hope I have as much luck when the praying mantis egg-case, on the same grape, hatches), because I was able to spin it, to keep the decent light on her.
They are, in effect, giant bonsai.
So I was looking at the Tokay, and say some dead wood, ragged and old. It wasn't anyplace I recalled dead wood, but I might not have noticed. When I reached for it, to think about getting the ball-cutter and ripping it out, I realised that it was strange piece of wood.
It wasn't, you see, in need of removal, it was hanging from some threads, about 3/64's of an inch from the wood. It was a chrysalis. What with drill, and other things yesterday (potting up the blueberry, the wisteria, shooting some plum blossoms, consolidating the worm farm etc.) I missed the good light.
This morning I got delayed (taking the trash to the street). When I got there, I was too late, and this is what I saw, instead of a chrysalis waiting to open:
So I ran in, grabbed the 200mm Macro, slapped the 2X teleconverter onto in, snagged the tripod and went to work.
Happily she was taking her time in pumping her wings, so I was able to get things like this:
The lens combination made it possible to get really detailed images, without having to get so close she was really scared, or the lens was shading the subject.
If you click through, the full size image has a lot of detail.
I'm really glad it was on a grape (and I can only hope I have as much luck when the praying mantis egg-case, on the same grape, hatches), because I was able to spin it, to keep the decent light on her.
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That's so amazing it hurts a little to look at.
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I wish I could figure out what I'm doing wrong. Because the degredation these are suffering from publishining on the web... horrendous. I think the colors are just this side of oversaturated, and here... blah.
The best of these, to me, is the first. She looks as though she's just dripping off the vine.
I also amuse myself that I think of the butterfly as female, when there's not a whole lot of dimorphism in them.
TK
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I have a few more scale shots I may post. If I do, I'll let you know.
TK
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TK
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FWIW, I'm using a Viewsonic VG2230wm monitor that's corrected to SMPTE standard.
You can find it at: http://brighamrad.harvard.edu/research/topics/vispercep/smpte/smpte.jpg
lwj
Edited to correct typo in monitor mark/mod.