Thanks Neil, much appreciated. Looking good for the end of next week - will be in touch.

I haven't posted for a while but just wanted to say how nice it was to bump into Neil and other UKButterfliers at Collard Hill at the end of last week.

Still trawling through the images but here's one of my shots...

All the best

Malc

Just a follow-up to my previous post regarding Willow Emerald Damselfly. Further exploration today revealed what I hoped to see - evidence of breeding behavior. It's also a useful picture to enable comparison between male and female and see the differences between this species and the UK's two curre...

Hi All I thought you might be interested in my latest discovery. While visiting a local site in Suffolk I came across a number of damselflies that were new to me. I immediately had a hunch that they were Willow Emerald, and confirmed this on my return. The species has been recorded a few times befor...

A heart-felt thank you to everyone who voted for me - cheers guys (and gals)! I'm not sure I really deserve it, but it's great to share the podium with Gwenhwyfar, one of a growing core of photographers on this site who month after month turn out really outstanding pictures. Living in Suffolk, I hav...

Some really lovely work here, makes me wish we had a UK Butterflies equivalent for dragons and damsels! I love the Downy Emerald photo Xmilehigh. I grew up in Sussex so they're a familiar species and I really miss not having a chance to photograph them now I live in Suffolk. Great flight shot of Emp...

I'm certainly beginning to see a few here in East Suffolk over the last two or three days. Should be a bonanza summer for them!

I agree with Eccles, a touch of fill-in flash is a good approach, ideally fired through some sort of diffuser to soften it as much as possible. You want to achieve an image that looks naturally lit, so the flash needs to be subtle enough not to be noticeable. Under-exposing the flash is the way to g...

Thought I'd join the fun. Common by name they may be, but wonderful nonetheless!

The perceived advantage of APS-C over full frame isn't an advantage at all provided the pixel density is similar. Correct. However, the temptation is always to compose using the full width of the viewfinder and thus move in closer, loosing the greater working distance advantage of AP-C, which effec...

Shooting macros (I'm talking true macros here, 1:1 at least) without a tripod is a little like shooting landscapes without a tripod I couldn't agree more. I've been assuming that Steve wants a lens for butterfly photography and will normally want to photograph the whole insect with a bit of 'contex...

NickB wrote:I manage to use a monopod with rotating head and it is still possible to go walkaround

Which model do you use, Nick?

Thanks

Malc

The comments about subject movement are completely on the money - I find it at least as much of a problem as hand shake. This is particularly true on breezy days and when butterflies are actively feeding and, unless the flash is contributing the bulk of the exposure (which usually looks very unnatur...

Dear Santa It's nearly Christmas again and I've tried my best to be good (honest)! Please can I have these three things to help my butterfly photography in 2009: 1) Lots more time to take photographs (I'm sure my employers won't mind!) 2) A richer, more diverse landscape for Suffolk, full of lots of...

I'm sure you're not meaning to imply that my pictures aren't sharp Fishiee, but just to make the point: I'd hardly be likely to go to the trouble of buying a D300, expensive Nikon macro lens, flash gun etc., not to mention the hassle of setting up a web site if I didn't take my work pretty seriously...

By the way, I meant to add that if you're thinking of using a 100mm lens with a converter to achieve a longer working distance, I'd say think again. You'll have a darker finder and poorer auto focusing to contend with. I use auto focusing for my insect work and again find Nikon's implementation of t...

There's a popular assumption that for close up photography a tripod/monopod is essential, or at least highly desirable. This simply isn't true, although to get consistently good results hand held, you do need to tip the balance in your favour by exploiting VR technology, higher ISO settings and shor...

Hi Shirley I'd only add that while shooting RAW adds an extra step it's well worth the trouble and, occasionally, I've been able to save images that might otherwise have been completely lost. Depending on your equipment, how the camera is set up and how you shoot, you may not need to do much to your...

Hi Tony No, you certainly don't need a dedicated macro flash, a 'normal' flash gun will do. The secret, at least from my own experience, is to use the natural daylight that's available as much as possible and only rely on the flash as a 'fill-in', to reduce the contrast a little and lighten the dark...

Hi Tony I was able to borrow a ring flash (from a dentist friend of mine) and found it worked very well with extreme close ups, as others have mentioned, but I didn't like the effect it produced when photographing normal living butterflies. The lighting is direct and the flash is very close to the l...