As promised, here's another photo of one of those Gorgone Checkerspot Butterflies. This little guy was willing to let me move in as close as my lens would allow (18.5 inches).

I moved around to a couple different angles and distances, but unfortunately was so focused on the butterfly and getting the images before he flew off that I only came up with this one image that I think works well.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 180mm f/3.5 Di SP LD 1:1 Macro, 1/10 sec at f/9.1. ISO 200. Dolica AX620B100 tripod. No post production. Kanawha State Forest, Charleston, WV.

What Works: Focus is tack sharp with enough depth of field to keep most of the butterfly in focus (the very tips of its antennae are slightly blurred). The softly blurred background and framing with the offset butterfly is pleasing.

What Doesn't Work: The bright green grass stem in the background is a slight distraction, and if the antennae tips were in focus would be a bit nicer.

As I said, I took several other exposures of this guy, but none of them were just right. Everyone of them had some semi-major flaw with them that I was displeased with...

The image on the left has a weird convergence with the antenna tip and the eye of the butterfly. The center image shows my typical problem of cropping too closely in camera and cutting off key elements (antenna tip and feet in this case). While the third image has distracting background elements in a bad location right behind the butterfly's head.

That's why you take multiple exposures with a subject.

- Bill