Iphiclides podalirius (Scarce swallowtail)

Iphiclides podalirius (Scarce swallowtail)

Written by Webmaster Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:00

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"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more."  Lord Byron, George

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iphiclides podalirius (Insecta: Lepidoptera; Family: Papilionidae; common name: Scarce Swallowtail)

This zebra butterfly is one of the most beautiful insects in Greece. While very difficult to capture in flight because of the irregular way it flies, it becomes an easy, stationary subject when it finds the right flower. I waited till it rested on its favourite flowers and then took 15 pictures in less than a minute, since I knew that it would leave this particular plant after a short while. I even tried a couple of close up shots focusing on the end of its wing which shows this beautiful combination of yellow, blue, black and white hoping for the best. I must confess that this is one of the few times I relied on the focusing capabilities of the D2X camera which worked miracles. To ensure maximum depth of field, I stepped down the lens to f/20 which proved a smart move, since this insect is considerably larger than bees and was placed at an angle to the sensor plane.

Photos by George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 100
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/60 sec - f/20, Aperture priority mode
Flash: SB-800 in i-TTL mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CSs, levels adjusted, smart sharpening added and resized.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iphiclides podalirius  II

We came across this butterfly quite a few times and we got some nice pictures of it using a macro lens and a telephoto lens (with and without a teleconverter). The large size of this butterfly allows for easy focusing even with a 300 mm telephoto lens.

Photos by Marina Parha and George J. Reclos

Shooting Data:

1. Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 D
Sensitivity: ISO 400
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/1250 sec - f/3.5, Shutter priority mode
Flash: No flash fired.
Image: NEF edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added saved as JPEG and resized.

2. Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: AF Tamron 180mm f/3.5 Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 320
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/1250 sec - f/7.1, Aperture priority mode
Flash: No flash fired.
Image: NEF edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added saved as JPEG and resized.

3. Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 D + Nikon 1.7 TC II
Sensitivity: ISO 800
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/1000 sec - f/4.8, Aperture priority mode
Flash: No flash fired.
Image: NEF edited in Photoshop CS4, levels adjusted, sharpening added saved as JPEG and resized.  

 

Special thanks to Matt Rowlings for identifying this butterfly. You can read more about it at his site.

These photographs are the property of MCH Portal and cannot be reproduced without the written permission of the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

 

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