My Own Yard

While I am always dreaming about going to amazing places to photograph nature and wildlife, the reality is I will not get to those places very often. I will check my bank balance and say, nope, not going anywhere real soon. Then I might feel sorry for myself for awhile, but I just have to grab my camera and step outside.

   

I live in a condominium in the middle of a mid-sized town. Now my condo. is actually a duplex on a small cul de sac. I do have a very small yard. Between my wife planting flowers everywhere, and  me putting up several different types of bird feeders, We have managed to create a micro sized wildlife habitat. 

All the photographs in this post, and many others you may see here or in my portfolio on my website, were shot in my postage stamp sized yard. It is easy to make excuses about not having somewhere to go shoot, but that does not cut it. There is plenty of things to shoot in your own yard. You just have to look and find it.

I came home the other evening and found a wild turkey eating some seed on the ground under one of my feeders. Even in an urban environment there is plenty of chances to capture some amazing wildlife photos with a little planning and desire. If you are, or want to be a good photographer, you will find a way to get the shot.

 

I have located feeders and bird baths in specific locations to maximize my available light and shooting angles from my back pourch. (Hey I don't want to work to hard) My wife's flower beds provide many macro opportunities of both flower and insect shots. 

So you see I have no excuse, even if I only have a few minutes, I can usually find something in my own yard.

No excuses! Get out there and make some good photographs!

Butterflies

One of my favorite subjects to photograph are butterflies. They are amazing creatures. The intricate colors, patterns, and detail found in their physical makeup all have a distinct purpose. Butterflies are beautiful, flying insects with large scaly wings. Like all insects, they have six jointed legs, 3 body parts, a pair of antennae, compound eyes, and an exoskeleton. The three body parts are the head, thorax (the chest), and abdomen (the tail end).

                                                       

                    Hairstreak Butterfly on a Cone Flower

The butterfly's body is covered by tiny sensory hairs. The four wings and the six legs of the butterfly are attached to the thorax. The thorax contains the muscles that make the legs and wings move. 

                                        

                                 Achilles Morpho Butterfly

These patterns or markings can be everything from camouflage to a warning to stay away that they are poisonous. The monarch Butterfly is poisonous to many creatures because it feeds solely on Milkweed which is a poisonous plant. The Viceroy Butterfly has evolved to look almost exactly like a Monarch Butterfly, but since it does not feed on Milkweed, it is not poisonous. Due to its almost perfect resemblance to the Monarch, many creatures avoid trying to eat it.

Monarch Butterfly on a Milkweed Plant

Butterflies are very good fliers. They have two pairs of large wings covered with colorful, iridescent scales in overlapping rows. Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are the only insects that have scaly wings. The wings are attached to the butterfly's thorax.. Veins support the delicate wings and nourish them with blood.

                               Silver Spotted Skipper Butterfly

Butterflies can only fly if their body temperature is above 86 degrees. Butterflies sun themselves to warm up in cool weather. As butterflies age, the color of the wings fades and the wings become ragged. The speed varies among butterfly species (the poisonous varieties are slower than non-poisonous varieties). The fastest butterflies (some skippers) can fly at about 30 mile per hour or faster. Slow flying butterflies fly about 5 mph.

Yellow Sulpher Butterfly on New England Aster

Butterflies are found all over the world and in all types of environments: hot and cold, dry and moist, at sea level and high in the mountains. Most butterfly species, however, are found in tropical areas, especially tropical rainforests. Many butterflies migrate in order to avoid adverse environmental conditions (like cold weather). Butterfly migration is not well understood. Most migrate relatively short distances (like the Painted Lady, the Red Admiral, and the Common Buckeye), but a few (like some Monarchs) migrate thousands of miles.

                                           

                       Rice Paper or Paper Kite Butterfly 

Photographing butterflies is not extremely difficult, but to get the very best results I use a 180mm macro lens and a tripod. The longer focal length gives me more space to work so I do not have to get close and scare the butterfly. Also the longer focal length allows me to create the more soft out of focus backgrounds. The use of the tripod will almost always give you sharper images over hand held shots. I photograph them from my backyard butterfly garden to exotic butterfly houses. You can never have enough good butterfly photos in your portfolio.