Yellow striped butterfly

First session at the grove started 06:00 today. There were a couple of goats tethered there, but they only had four legs and therefore did not qualify for my blip. Their presence could have something to do with the Mosques, as they have been singing over loud speakers for abut eighteen hours non-stop now, obviously some religious festival occurring today. I have an uncomfortable feeling that the goat's day is not going to pan out as planned, probably should not buy any green bananas as they say.

As usual, so early in the morning, the pickings were slim. No frogs found, a couple of glimpses of lizards. I did two laps of the perimeter and then walked the grid as Lincoln Rhyme would say, remembering that the grove is 3D, checking the trees as well as the ground. I collected a few snaps, a butterfly sitting on some mimosa was interesting, but I didn't nail the focus, plus it had been featured before. A sleeping darter butterfly and a small hopper made the reject list, also a large, winged termite type insect has a chance, but I will be returning once it warms up for a second session.

I seem to be having a lot of focusing problems. The view finder is correctly adjusted for my wonky eye and I am happy that I am seeing the focus. I will do some tests today, focusing on a mark on a tape measure and then process to see where the actual focal plane lies.

Quite often in the poor light of the undergrowth, I want to use flash, but it makes hard shadows, glary reflective highlights and washes out the lighter colors, also focusing in the low light is a problem. The solution has to be a rim light. I don't have the cash to spend on such a luxury item so I am going to make one. I have a bag of UV LED's that are bright enough for the job. I did a test shot of a colored item and the colors were true to life. The design is underway. I was originally going to use a flashing UV light to attract night insects.

I returned to the grove at 09:30 for another bite of the grove's bounteous fruit, only to be met by a crowd of people, setting up for a BBQ. I was right about the goats. They were now well and truly ex-goats, sliced, diced and skewered. On the ground was an ex-cow, having its jacket removed as I arrived. Gruesome maybe, but how do you think that pound of mince got into the vacuum sealed pack on the supermarket shelf, this is the same thing only guaranteed fresh.

It was still cool and overcast, so things were moving slow at the grove. I did a couple of laps and nothing was leaping out at me. I picked up a nice shot of a black wasp, but I can get this any time. The butterfly that I blipped yesterday was also present, so I collected more shots of her, trying to get a different angle. Got a nice end on shot with the wings moving, for a different perspective, not too bad.

Another butterfly that I honestly thought I had blipped before, kept appearing in my lens, so I pursued it, once again going for the different shot to justify the blip. Back at the lab, as I was processing the days take, I started thinking about doing a combo of all six, to show what I had available, as I had nothing special to blip. Then I pulled this, virtually the last shot of the day, onto my screen. The final blip choice was a no contest AND it turns out that I had not blipped this butterfly, but it had made the reject file a few times. I will have to blip it properly, to show it in all its glory one day.

On the way back, the paper plates were out and the food fest was under way. I was invited to partake, but I had just eaten an hour ago. I will return later, after posting and join the revelers in a cow butty or two.

Dave