Winged Insect Beauty

At Butterfly Park, Bannerghatta, Bangalore

Tv: 1/250s; Av: F/3.5; f: 72mm(35mm-equiv: 624mm)

I took this photo at the Butterfly Park at Bannerghatta Biological park near Bangalore. I was surprised I even got this shot in the first place, since I never expected the butterfly to stay still for so long (I took quite some time adjusting the aperture, shutter-speed and most importantly, zooming in). But I’m glad this little insect did give me this pose since I loved the outcome – especially the largish eyes.

One thing I would improve in this snap is the background. The antennae of this butterfly are not clearly visible because of the dark background. Had I managed to get some lighter color in the back instead (maybe a leafy green), the antennae would have been more prominently visible. The other shortcoming is the focus. Some areas seem out of focus. Probably manual focus might have helped – but I did not bother with that since with so much zoom, it is difficult to adjust the manual focus.

On this visit, I also learned the difference between a butterfly and a moth (and I used to think they’re the same!!)

• Moths are nocturnal; butterflies are normally active during the day
• Moths have a bulbous tip to their antennae whereas butterflies have feathery or thin ones
• Moths spread out their wings when at rest. On the other hand, butterflies fold theirs.

So I can be pretty sure this insect that I captured is indeed a butterfly.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 8:35 am and is filed under kiranoncemore, S3 IS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.