I love photographing the nondescript butterflies that are so common that they fly by virtually unnoticed, like this beautiful little sulphur butterfly that I spotted last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I believe it is an Orange Sulphur butterfly (Colias eurytheme), though it is often hard to distinguish that species from the Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice), so I am a little uncertain of the identification.
What I am certain of, however, is the delicate beauty of this butterfly and I am happy that I was able to capture some of that beauty in this image. As I gaze at this photo, I am reminded of the moment when I took it, a moment when I was enveloped by a sense of deep tranquility as the gorgeous sunlight illuminated the wings of the butterfly. Quite often when I am pursuing a subject, I can feel my heart racing a little as adrenaline kicks in. This was one of the rare circumstances when I had the opposite physical reaction.
It is hard to describe in words what I was feeling, though it was definitely cool to experience. I hope that some of you will get a sense of that tranquility from this image. Iam becoming more and more convinced of the value of taking life a little more slowly, of opening myself up to experiencing the beauty that surrounds us every day.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Very serene and so delicate. I love everything about this image, Mike, the pastel shades, the flower, the butterfly but most of all the sense of tranquility.
Cracking image Mike, well caught.
Maybe your watercolor work has you in a pastel mood – this is a very pretty scene.
It has me in enough of a mood that I am thinking of trying to tackle that scene in watercolor. As I was driving to work this morning, I was wondering if there is a way for me to mix that kind of lilac color in the background. I am using a little watercolor palette that has only 12 colors, and I think I am going to have to play around with the two reds and the two blues and see what kind of purples I can make.
I can’t help you. That background looks mostly gray to me 🙁
It may be easier to render it in gray–on my laptop it seems to have a grayish-lavender tinge to it.
Benjamin and I are of two minds…I like the flower the best and he likes the butterfly the best. On the enlarged photo, he pointed out the extended “probosis” and the “pretty eyes.” I love how he pronounces proboscis! Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
that butterfly is so beautifully delicate. Your photo is gorgeous, and it conveys your thoughts amazingly!!!
A stunning photo in every way Mike, I imagine a beautiful watercolour could be done on the basis of this. The background appears very light lavender to me, on my laptop. I think that’s part of why this photo works – the background appears the same colour as the lightest parts of the flower. Fortunately the outer edges of the petals are darker and therefore stand out against the background. The butterfly is gorgeous! It’ll be tricky getting that done to your satisfaction! But what a motivating subject… well worth your efforts!
I think for now, Liz, that this might be an aspirational project, that is to say it’s one that I would be best advised to tackle when I have developed my skills a bit more. Thanks for the feedback on the background color that you see. I process my photos on a laptop and I know that colors often look a bit different on different screens (and laptop screens are notorious for not always rendering true colors).
Its really beautiful! I’m tempted to have a go myself to be honest. Using coloured pencils. I’m a complete novice. And I don’t have watercolours. But its so lovely that it begs to be attempted! I hope you do have a go, you can always do one now and then have another go when you’ve developed even more skills! But it impresses me what you’ve done to date. I honestly think you’re ahead of anything I could do already!
Tonight I only played around a bit trying to see if I could mix up any colors resembling those in the photo. I mostly concentrated on the green, the yellowish tan, and the purple. I had some success with the green, more problems with the purple, and a really tough go with the color of the butterfly. The little watercolor set I have has two blues, two reds, two yellows, two greens, three earth tones, and a white. None of the colors worked as it, so I did a lot of experimentation. You should give it a try, Liz.
That’s a perfect shot. Beautiful!