2nd June 07 AHBT Shootout

[Silverstreak]

It was a very successful outing and everyone really enjoy the shootout at AHBT .

A few butterflies were very cooperative and the gang has a good workout on a newly eclosed Black Common Rose and Common Imperial.

I am expecting a few masterpieces, from both the Gurus/Master and the newbies, will be gracing this thread soon

Please post your shots here. Let me start with a few of my humble shots:

Zizeeria maha serica (Pale Grass Blue)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/Schir/_MG_1836.jpg

Eurema hecabe contubernalis (Common Grass Yellow)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/Schir/_MG_1933-1.jpg


Cheritra freja friggia (Common Imperial)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/Schir/_MG_1891-1.jpg

Pachliopta aristolochiae sp ( Black Rose)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/Schir/_MG_1855-1.jpg

Cheers!

[Cruiser]

Hi sunny, thanks for organizing the outing and lovely shots you have got here. Found pics 2, 3 & 4 has got strong yellow casts, could be just my monitor :thinking:

[Silverstreak]

Cruiser,

Thanks for pointing out the yellow color cast.... it is my monitor .;P

Rectified!

[richardlbong]

Sunny these looks alright to me on my monitor. Good capture of the Black Rose.Good of you to organise this outing Sunny. Sorry did not help today.
Richard

[Silverstreak]

Sorry did not help today.
???

Talking to the guys and gals on how to shoot them butts is plenty of help oredi!

Thanks!

[Commander]

Thanks for turning up, Richard, despite your erm... "handicap" :) Glad you could help out.

[Commander]

How come no one posting still? Here's a shot of our Sunny (cleverly hidden) talking to his attentive students this morning... :bsmile:

[Cruiser]

sharing two more pics, can you see what they were shooting :)

[Common Mime]

sharing two more pics, can you see what they were shooting :)

The Rose!!!! :cry: :cry: (CM wishes he can join in...)

What lens did Steven use to shoot huh? 500mm? Looks like the old 300mm.

[Silverstreak]

To make CM :cry: more ...... dun think you will ever find another Rose that is so tame and well position to be shot!

[Common Mime]

To make CM :cry: more ...... dun think you will ever find another Rose that is so tame and well position to be shot!Can, shoot in my studio :prrr:

Is that Simon on the right?

[Commander]

Throwing in a few shots from the outing as well. Same ol' Black Rose. ;P

(Better check my green histogram before someone reminds me of the green cast again) :prrr:

[night86mare]

Must stop procrastinating and make that bounce card soon, unless I want disastrously dark backgrounds.. =D

Thanks guys for the outing, especially the more experienced people, learnt quite a bit, and most importantly - had fun! Who can ever forget the Rose TFCD or the Common Imperial TFCD?

Two skippers;

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1212/525969877_f3e272ce3b_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1136/526353601_0aee3c651a_o.jpg

Still figuring out how to process the CI with overly dark background.. =/

[Peacock Royal]

Sharing some shots from the outing. Nice meeting some of you.

[Elbowed Pierrot]

nitemare, the reason why you getting dark background isn't due to the flash or bounce. If you realised, most of us, use the omni bounce or like sunny and me direct flashing. to achieve a brighter background, you need to control the shutterspeed, aperture and ISO

[Common Mime]

nitemare, I agree with Simon's comment.

Perhaps you could share with us your settings for the above shots. To get better background, firsly, you need to control your exposure, it need to be spot on if you are shooting JPEG but you have about 1-stop +/- if shooting RAW. Try to use higher ISO if your most comfortable shutter speed with your setup is too high.

As Sunny said, shoot more, and you will learn.

Cheers!

[Commander]

Try to use higher ISO if your most comfortable shuttle speed with your setup is too high.

:police: :police: :police: ;P

[Common Mime]

:police: :police: :police: ;P:prrr: Corrected!

[richardlbong]

More Black Rose to wet CM's appetite.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b323/digimania/TWP/CR1.jpg
This one's from Wang Peck.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b323/digimania/TWP/CR2.jpg
and here's mine.
Richard

[night86mare]

nitemare, the reason why you getting dark background isn't due to the flash or bounce. If you realised, most of us, use the omni bounce or like sunny and me direct flashing. to achieve a brighter background, you need to control the shutterspeed, aperture and ISO


nitemare, I agree with Simon's comment.

Perhaps you could share with us your settings for the above shots. To get better background, firsly, you need to control your exposure, it need to be spot on if you are shooting JPEG but you have about 1-stop +/- if shooting RAW. Try to use higher ISO if your most comfortable shutter speed with your setup is too high.

As Sunny said, shoot more, and you will learn.

Cheers!
:sweat: Hrm, I get very varied results, but I just got a more powerful (but very cheap) flash instead of my in-built - so it has a fixed output. Most of the above shots are at 300mm, the one with the brighter background was shot at ISO 400, f/9.5, 1/180 seconds (fastest shutter speed I have due to sync limitations). The other one is shot at ISO 400, f/13, 1/180 seconds.

I wish I'd kept the 2 sets of Pale Grass Blue pictures to display and compare - one was shot with flash, the other without, same aperture and ISO settings, just that exposure timing was different. The one without the flash has a much more pleasant (brighter) background closer to what you guys are achieving, which was why I made that statement. Of course it was not sharp at all, since the shutter speed was pretty low.

Thanks for the help! =)

[Elbowed Pierrot]

nitemare

what are the equipments you are using, I understand sometimes, 3rd party perpherials do not sync well. When I had my sigma flash with my 300d, the metering is always way off and by only using a bounce card can I get a fill-in effect. From your photos, it looks similar

[night86mare]

nitemare

what are the equipments you are using, I understand sometimes, 3rd party perpherials do not sync well. When I had my sigma flash with my 300d, the metering is always way off and by only using a bounce card can I get a fill-in effect. From your photos, it looks similar

Oh, you really don't want to know, my flash is really just a direct output thing. Set power, set amount, each time for 1/1000 seconds. =( Some funny China brand from Orient Photo.

Maybe when I get more money, I'll get a better one since I would need it for other stuff in the long run as well anyways. But for now, I'm thinking I'll try it out with bounce first to lessen the intensity - it is way too harsh direct. If not then I'll just stick to what I was using previously - i.e. built-in.

[Common Mime]

More Black Rose to wet CM's appetite.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b323/digimania/TWP/CR1.jpg
This one's from Wang Peck.
Richard
Richard, please tell Wang Peck that I love her Black Rose shot. The branch comes out very natural. :thumbsup:

[Leopard Lacewing]

Hi all,

It was nice meeting all of you in yesterday's outing. Like to thank the regulars for their guidance and important tips.

Here are my pictures... your comments will be much appreciated.
Also, need your help on the moth ID! Thanks.

Cheers! Bobby

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/photoexpress/Macro/CS_DSC_8354A.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/photoexpress/Macro/CS_DSC_8400A.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/photoexpress/Macro/CS_DSC_8428A.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/photoexpress/Macro/CS_DSC_8521A.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/photoexpress/Macro/CS_DSC_8478.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y60/photoexpress/Macro/CS_DSC_8474A.jpg

[Silverstreak]

Bobby,

Excellent shots you have there!

Considering the limitations of your setup, these are great images that anyone can be proud of!

The Black Rose is my pick . Minor nits on the other 3 are the slight blurring of the wing tips , this could be remedied by getting your sensor parallel with the butts to fully use the narrow DOF.

Looking forward to more for ya!

:cheers:

[rubric]

Thank you guys & gals for the warm welcome yesterday! It was great meeting such a friendly and helpful bunch of butt enthusiasts, and I learnt a few tricks and butt names too. Here are my very humble efforts. Just some levels and colour adjustments in PS. Flash perplexes me, but at least I got a few tips from the gurus. ;P

[Elbowed Pierrot]

nitemare, if that is the case, it will be better to use a bounce card, you also need to do trial and errors to get the desired results. One good way to know if the flash is overpowered/harsh, is to compare the subject to the background. If the subject is overlitted, then you need to readjust your flash output

here is a bounce card I did a couple of years back, which have been useful to me. To be printed in A3, pasted on a cupboard and fold along the lines
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/simonsng4/misc/bouncecard.jpg

Bobby, very nice try. try not to overcontrast the photos, it makes shadow darker and hence lose details. And I agree with sunny, keep the subject as parallel to the camera body if possible. Alternatively, you can increase your f-stop to get a deeper DOF. Your last photo of a moth is well exposed *thumbsup*

Ruby, from the looks of your photos, it looks like you have been in this for quite a period. Only nit is avoid highlights when choosing a background, it distracts and dominant the subject, making the viewer look where they ain't supposed to. Your Black rose needs more fill-in light, the veins on the hindwing is not visible

I hope, I'm not too harsh with my words, ignore me if I am.. but do practice more, you will achieve better photos in the near future

[Peacock Royal]

Nice meeting you night86mare, Bobby (aka photoexpress) and rubric.

night86mare, some good effort there. Keep shooting and you will soon know what the shutter speed and f-stop should be for your cam setup to achieve a brighter background, of course that depands on the actual physical background also.

Bobby, your shots are very good and promising.

rubric, glad that you got the Common Imperial (3rd shot) shot. I didn't have any shot.Your shots are promising and look very good to me, especially 1st , 2nd and the last shot . Keep your shots coming.

[Common Mime]

Bobby, I like most of your shots!

Ruby, your Chocolate Demon is nice!

Thanks everyone for the nice photos!

[Cruiser]

Sharing two taken yesterday at the AHBT outing, no Black Rose from me though :)

1. Plain Nawab (~30% original size)
2. Orange skipper spp.

[night86mare]

nitemare, if that is the case, it will be better to use a bounce card, you also need to do trial and errors to get the desired results. One good way to know if the flash is overpowered/harsh, is to compare the subject to the background. If the subject is overlitted, then you need to readjust your flash output

here is a bounce card I did a couple of years back, which have been useful to me. To be printed in A3, pasted on a cupboard and fold along the lines
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v688/simonsng4/misc/bouncecard.jpg

Thanks a lot for the link! Really appreciate your help and patience.=)


Nice meeting you night86mare, Bobby (aka photoexpress) and rubric.

night86mare, some good effort there. Keep shooting and you will soon know what the shutter speed and f-stop should be for your cam setup to achieve a brighter background, of course that depands on the actual physical background also.
.
Pleasure was mine! Thanks for the encouragement;

Anyways got round to processing that CI shot:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/199/527783313_233f76eab3_o.jpg

Best I could do with what I had. =D Had to do some cloning, hope it isn't too obvious.. =D I think it's a very beautiful butterfly. <3

[Cruiser]

hi night86mare, excellent shot of the Com.Imperial. Good exposure and I can see lots of details, may be a little bit more space on the right will make the composition even better, just MHO :cheers:

[Leopard Lacewing]

Hi all, thanks for your comments and the important tips.

Haha... I noticed that when I zoom in my pictures from the computer.
I will bear in mind those important tips and will practice them next round.

Cheers! :cheers:

[ericp]

My first virgin post... after Sunny encouragement... :)

These were taken on that day.

Plain Naweb: Thanks to one of the participant who spotted this beauty, sadly cannot remember his name:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/ericp/Butterfly/PlainNawab-web.jpg

Pygmy Grass Blue: too bad cannot go any lower, slight blurr on the tip of the wing.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/ericp/Butterfly/PygmyGrassBlue-web.jpg


Another view of Common Imperial (hidden under foilage)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/ericp/Butterfly/CommonImperial-web.jpg

Not fogetting the butterfly transformation stage... such a beauty...

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y86/ericp/Butterfly/pupae-web.jpg

Hope you like them and hope to join more outings in the future... :cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Like the CI and the pupa shots very much.

[ericp]

Thanks Federick... glad you like it :)

Personally I also like the pupa shot very much.... feels like the greenish world is out waiting for it when it hatches... Do you know what butterfly it belongs to?

[Silverstreak]

Some shots of the participants of the outing.. Mr. Liak Teng Lit, CEO of Alexandra Hospital (in blue) dropped by to have a chat with the shooters...

Photos courtesy of Mr Tan Wee Lee.

[Painted Jezebel]

Goodness, I envy you your room!. 2 Feet off the path and I'm in dense undergrowth, with no chance to follow any butts.

Les

[Common Mime]

Come come come to Singapore. :)

[greengoblin]

Nice pics!!! Did not know you all were having an outing :cry:

I shot some from AH as well. Here is one of the pic

[Common Mime]

Hi Greengoblin,

Good catch on the Blue Glassy Tiger which is the PR and most photographed butterfly at AH.

You can always check out if there is any outing at this sub-forum (http://b-pals.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5).

[greengoblin]

Thanks Common Mime :) I will take note :)