Fun at the Zoo

Photo of the Day

Yesterday we went to the Indianapolis Zoo before meeting up with some friends for dinner. On the way into the museum I noticed that the gardens next door were having a butterfly exhibit. In the past I would not have thought twice about the exhibit, but with a camera in my hand I really wanted to go inside. I was nearly ashamed of myself for how excited I was to see the butterflies landing around the room. I was actually stalking a few just to see where they would land so I could get their picture. I put a couple other shots that I liked up on my Facebook page here if you want to look at them. This butterfly on the sunflower though was the most fun to photograph. Looking back now I wish that it had been a more contrasting color, but you can’t always pick what happens. As I was taking this photo a man with an iPhone was taking one over my shoulder. After I got my shot I actually backed out of the way so that he could get his. Had I been thinking it would have made a great Instagram photo, but I was just happy to get the shot with my dSLR.

Technical Data

I used my 70-200mm lens to get this shot. I have never really shot butterflies before so it was a new experience for me. I thought that the lens would be my best bet. It is not macro lens though so I had to be back a bit from my subject. I shot a few very loose knowing that I could crop later, but this was one where I framed it just how I wanted to in camera. I imported the photo into Lightroom to see how I could process the RAW image there. I decided to try Matt Kloskowski’s light sports preset to see how it would look. I really like how the vignette basically goes unnoticed, but draws you into the photo. I dialed down a couple of the sliders to give it less clarity. I also upped the highlights and the vibrance. After that this photo was ready to publish here.