San Diego Wild Animal Park Butterfly Jungle

[Jon Ruyle]

Who has been to the butterfly jungle exhibit at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego? For those who have, I'd love to see some of your pics from the event. For those who haven't, I highly recommend it. This year it runs from April 4-26. Lots of butterflies, not at all camera shy, and decent light. The best time to go IMO is the middle of the event: at the start it is too crowded, but by the end the butterflies have begun to die off.


Here are some shots I got last year or the year before (I don't remember which are from which):


/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.25.93.5d+first+10000.butterflies/butterfly-17.jpg


1DIIN 100mm macro f/6.3 1/250sec iso 500 w/twin flash





/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.25.93.5d+first+10000.butterflies/butterfly-18-2.jpg


1DIIN 100mm macro f/7.1 iso 640 1/250sec w/twin flash





/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.25.93.5d+first+10000.butterflies/butterfly-22.jpg


1DIIN 100mm macro f/8 1/250sec iso 400 w/twin flash





/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.UserFiles/00.00.00.25.93.5d+first+10000.butterflies/butterfly-31.jpg


1DIIN 200mm f/4 1/80sec iso 800

[Madison]

Aren't butterflies amazing?


One small tip: you need to look at color consistency.


The same butterfly is blue-ish white, green-ish white and yellow-ish white in photos. Other than that the colors are amazing. I like the last one a lot. Not entirely sharp but I can live with that. It stands there so majestically.

[Jon Ruyle]

Thanks for the suggestion, Madison. I guess it is a combination of 1) I processed these at different times and on different computers 2) I have no eye for color. But I'll pay more attention in the future, especially when I present pictures together.


I agree, the last would have been better if I had stopped down more. I would have shot at f/8 or so if I had enough light. With the 1DIIN I didn't like to go above iso 800. I'll take the 5DII this year, though.

[Madison]

But I do like the pose of the butterfly in combination with the curling of the leaf it is on. It looks regal. Pretty.

[Colin]

Very far from San Diego, in Kau, Big Island, but it had no choice but wait for me to take a picture...


http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n87/boujiluge/2006-11-21_BigIslandButterflyCrashe.jpg


(Sorry, I didn't really get much depth of field, I was figuring things out, and had no tripod, even if I did know better then [:)]





Closer to San Diego, but short on butter...


http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n87/boujiluge/2008-07-04_FlyCup_0014800x397.jpg

[Joel Bookhammer]

The fly picture is great!

[Jon Ruyle]

Cool. I like the reflection.


Is that milk?

[Colin]

It was water in a teacup.


It fell into the cup, and was swimming around. I started taking pictures, and then decided that it'd be cool if I filled up the cup all the way to get a convex miniscus. The fly then 'slid', butt first, to the edge of the cup, and if I got low enough, I could get a good front shot that, with the aid of a piece of paper placed behind the cup, made it less obvious that the fly was in a cup on my kitchen counter.


Just to assure our PETA friends, the fly was released and became a local celebrity, and often makes paid appearances at community colleges.

[Jon Ruyle]

Very nicely done. It takes a certain kind of mind to see a fly in a teacup and think "photograph!"


And btw, I have no doubts as to your claims of the treatment of the fly and its subsequent celebrety.