As I waited outside my neighbors’ townhouse so that we could travel to an indoor butterfly exhibit, I tried out my new macro lens in their garden and ended up with of my best butterfly shots of the day.
Cabbage White butterflies (Pieris rapae) are very common, but they are elusive when you try to photograph them. I managed to squeeze off only two shots before the butterfly flew away, but this shot illustrates why I love my 180mm macro so much. The small butterfly filled up much of the frame without me having to get right on top of it. The lens also captured a pretty good amount of detail too. If you click on the image, you can see some of the details of the butterfly’s green eye, for example.
Almost exactly a year ago, my photography mentor and muse, Cindy Dyer, in whose garden I photographed this butterfly, challenged me to get a good image of a Cabbage White butterfly. A year later, I feel pretty confident in saying that I have met that particular challenge.
wonderful, i love examining the detail.. the eye is great and the little pattern on the feelings gorgeous.. you passed the challenge with a gold star!
I think that lens is a keeper!
In spite of their abundance here in agricultural southeast Michigan I still like to watch these insects. If you ever want to see their larvae just plant some cabbage, cauliflower, or broccoli. As the common name implies the fat green caterpillars love the stuff. I must have squished dozens of them so far this summer.
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