Plain Tiger

thanks Dominik... have to digest all of that, check out the photos, and take my camera outside and try it. At the moment I am using a Lumix DMC TS8 or a Canon S90, not ideal for butterflies! Need a good camera but am stuck on which one to buy... But that's a whole other story.
I really appreciate your feedback and advise. I have only really started photographing butterflies this year, and am happy just to get a clear shot at the moment. Art will come later, when I have a proper lens...! Getting there slowly.
You have some great shots on Flickr...
best wishes to you
Pamela

Just one example for playing with dof: With f2.8 you will have the eyes sharp the rest not. If you close more and more you will have the full butterfly sharp but also the surrounding grass in the background, which makes the whole shot "noisy".
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominikhofe...
Without species equipement and techniques you will never get everything sharp. But in this case this was not the intention:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominikhofe...
Extreme form of dof and very calm background. But you have to accept some unsharp parts or almost everything is unsharp which might be intentional
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominikhofe...
Not a really good example: But the eyes are sharp...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominikhofe...
No the rest of the story: Do not bother too much about these technical finesses, just keep your eyes open and follow your intensions and your feelings... Insects are tricky to shoot, they are always moving, in butterflies you should have a second view shot for ID, you have grass blades between camera and insect, you have mosquitos around you... I must admit: I often just shot and if I have such a shot I call it artistic and intentional artwork ;-)...

Bayucca, so by playing with the dof, do you mean the eyes and face may be in focus, and the body progressively out of focus? Like setting the f-stop to 2.8? Got an example amongst your photos? Don't I need a macro lens to do something like that? It's usually all I can do to get a shot after chasing, or rather stalking, them around for sometimes ages! But I'll try...

#1 and #2 (now) have excellent sharpness of both (!) butterflies, which is not easy to get. You may play with depth-of-field in butterfly photography, however, I prefer clear and sharp shots (although mine were not always). Playing with dof and perspective are excellent means to get a some kind different approach to a creature. In these cases sharpness must nevertheless be focused on the eyes. And beware of the background ;-)... Just try once...

thanks Bayucca. i am learning what makes a good photo. Getting some feedback from others either confirms my choice or helps me discriminate next time. I appreciate that you took the time to answer.

#2, #4, #1.

I'm wondering if this plant that they like so much is Heliotropium indicum, commonly known as Indian heliotrope, an annual, hirsute plant that is a common weed in waste places and settled areas. It is native to Asia.

Great series and photo 1 is wonderful!

Any ideas? Photo 1 or 2 for the front page!?

Hi Atul, Great shot of the 3 together. I just missed one like that, 3 with a Common Crow! But I got a photo of 1 sitting with a Common Crow, though. They like that place and seem to be there every day, so more photo opportunities. The leaf of the plant they are on looks like the same one as in your photo, don't you think? Same dried seed head.
Also, are there any conditions about putting up photos of the same species on projectnoah?

Beautiful series!

Very beautiful.

cool !
check this one out http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/694...

Lovely series Pam!

I guess that nobody could have resisted...! Wonderful spotting!

Great photo!