Butterfly

This is one of my favorite shots from todays trip to Malahide Castle (Butterfly Glasshouse) with Declan and Paul T.  The butterfly house and other glass houses are a great location on a wet (not hot) day to get in a bit of photography and if weather permits then one can also shoot outdoors in the gardens.

When I visit the butterfly house I usually try two walk arounds, one with the 100 mm macro lens on the camera and the other with the long zoom lens on. It is important to factor in a 5 or more minute wait before shooting as the lens will have fogged up with the heat and humidity in the butterfly house.  On this particular visit I just did one walkabout and therefore only used the 100-500mm zoom lens.  I don't change lens within the glass house for fear of damaging the equipment internals.  I find the zoom lens still gives a reasonable bokken but with more of the small creature in focus.  I was a little frustrated as I realised that the Canon RF 100-500 doesn't have as good a minimum focus distance as my older Canon EF 100-400.  While the RF lens is certainly lighter than the EF 100-400 with the 1.4 extender, I am now realising that the older solution might be better for 'macro' style shots such as butterflies and damselflies.  I took all shots on this shoot handheld.  Occasionally I will use my Peak Design tripod with the macro lens if there isn't many people in the glasshouse.  This shot was taken at 1/1000 sec. with an open aperture of f/7.1 and auto ISO was 160.  I set the exposure to minus two thirds.  

The scones with jam and cream in the Avoca Cafe are a real treat when the photography is done along with the chat with the photography buddies.