As I search in vain for larger, colorful butterflies, I continue to be amazed by the beauty of the smaller ones, like this Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice) that I observed last week at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia.
Generally I like my closest shots the best when I am shooting with my macro lens, but in this case, I think I prefer the first shot below, that I took from a bit farther back. I like the way in which you can see the shadowy representations in the background of the stalks of the same kind of floweras the one one which the butterfly is feeding.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
very nice mike! I love the colors
I agree Mike about the ‘depth’ in the first photo… although in the second one, you can really see the ‘vein’ structure in the wing. I guess that’s the fun of trying different angles and settings on the camera. Sometimes, like your two photos today, you get two gorgeous photos for different reasons!
I like the second one better, but I think I often gravitate to lighter exposures anyway.
Interesting difference in exposure settings. I think the second is my favorite but I also like the way that the butterfly looks almost backlit in the first. It’s like a single ray of sunshine found it.
There was an interesting mix of shadows and light in that patch of purple plants. I had my camera’s metering system set on spot metering, which meant that the camera determined the exposure based on one small part of the scene, in this case the butterfly. It exposed the light-colored butterfly correctly and essentially underexposed the rest of the scene, making the butterfly stand out. On the second shot, there was much more light and the background washed away. It’s fascinating that the two shots were taken at almost the same time and same place, but the results were so different.
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