Tag Archives: butterfly

Callaway Gardens Butterfly House and Conservatory Center is Superb

April 18, 2008 – 8:26 am

Butterflies make great subjects. They stay still for you, or at least, they land some place long enough for you to usually get a half way decent image. You can also be creative when shooting butterflies.  Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain Georgia has one of the best butterfly displays anywhere in the country.  They have over 1,000 butterflies and more than 50 different species that are free flying as you walk through a jungle like home, made just for the butterflies.  It covers about 4 1/2 acres with a waterfall and ceilings that go from 16 feet up to 42 feet in hieght.

The Cecil Day Butterfly Center in Callaway Gardens is a must see if you are going to be anywhere near the area.  I would recommend going during the week when it is a little quieter, and I would try to be there as early in the morning as possible, especially if you are interested in photograping the butterflies.

Callaway Gardens Butterfly House

Using a flash will give you a nice blacked out background and using a small depth of field without a flash will give you some nice greens and solid colors. This image was taken in August at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia at the Cecil B Day Butterfly Center. Yes the same place that has the most beautiful golf courses also has butterflies.

Image Specifications

Body - Nikon n90s
Lens - Nikon 105mm Macro
Filter - Nikon No. 6T Closeup
Flash - Nikon Mount on a cable with a shade filter
Subject - Paper Kite Butterfly (Idea leuconoe) on a Candle Plant

Other Posts About the Paper Kite

There were a few other blog posts and images about the Paper Kite, some are:

By Scott Fillmer | Posted in Photography | Also tagged callaway, georgia, image of the day | Comments (0)

Sumertime in Alabama Equals a Butterfly on Lantana

September 18, 2007 – 6:29 am

Butterfly on Lantana in Alabama Summer

I thought I would post an image of the day post once in a while here so here is the first one. This was taken about a week ago in my back yard on some very overgrown Lantana (see description below). A good photographer and teacher once told me that you don’t have to go to exotic places to take some great photos, sometimes you don’t have to look any farther than your own house.

Some times it is very hard to find those images when you are looking at the same place day after day, but there are usually all kinds of great opportunities that we overlook just by looking at the same thing every day.

These butterflies come to this plant all day every day, and have done so now for months, I just didn’t think about taking a photo of them until the end of the summer.

Images Details

  • Camera Body : Nikon D100
  • Lens : Nikon Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 Macro
  • Mount : handheld
  • Exposure Value : -1.0
  • Focal Length : 157mm
  • ISO Speed : 400 (this was a mistake, didn’t check the setting)
  • Aperture : f/8:
  • Shutter Speed : 1/1000
  • File Format : NEF converted to .jpg

Characteristics of Lantana Plants: [Lantana camara (sometimes misspelled Lantana camera), 'Spreading Sunset']
Known for their hemispherical clusters of small, bright-colored flowers (see picture above right), lantana plants can reach 6′ high (with a spread of 8′) in Florida landscaping. The flowers may be yellow, orange, white, red and purple, and often colors are mixed within the same cluster. Most people dislike the smell of lantana flowers, but the foliage is quite fragrant, smelling, in fact, like citrus. Lantana plants are salt-tolerant, and they’re drought-tolerant once established.

For those of you who were looking for a ham radio type of entry, the butterflies often land on my vertical high gain VHF antenna that is mounted at about 50 feet. If you have any comments or questions just post them below.

By islandzephyr | Posted in Photography | Also tagged image of the day, lantana, nature, summer | Comments (0)