Pierre Williot
October 2025 - Peacock Butterfly
About the Image(s)
As mentioned before, the best camera and lens is the one you have on you! Well…. I was in a bird sanctuary, and did not expect to see this very nice butterfly…. so I used the lens I had on me! One of the issues with this lens is that the closest focal distance at 800 mm is a little too far. This was a challenge as I needed to use manual focusing and was frequently too close to focus on this butterfly.
Oh well…. first world problem!
Equipment: Canon EOS R5, Canon RF 200-800 mm, Hand held
Set-up: 800 mm - ISO 1,000 - 1/800 sec - f/9 - EV 0
Post-processing: minor cropping and global adjustments using ON1 Photo Raw
Location: Virkkula, Liminka, Finland
Time: August 18th 2025
7 comments posted
Hi Pierre: Am amazed you could render detail as good as this hand holding a 200-800 zoom lens, you must have had your vibration reduction turned on. Using 800mm diffused the back ground into a sea of light green with no distractions.
A beautiful colored butterfly with an interesting color pattern. Lucky you in finding such a wonderful subject. Posted: 10/11/2025 07:54:25
A beautiful colored butterfly with an interesting color pattern. Lucky you in finding such a wonderful subject. Posted: 10/11/2025 07:54:25
Thanks Murphy,
You are right: lens + camera body stabilization, as well as holding ones breath, wide and angled positioning of the feet + left elbow on the thorax for added stabilization.
This was the first time I observed and captured this butterfly, which is not seen in North America. In fact, there were a few fluttering around - this was one of my best shot!
Posted: 10/12/2025 13:12:03
You are right: lens + camera body stabilization, as well as holding ones breath, wide and angled positioning of the feet + left elbow on the thorax for added stabilization.
This was the first time I observed and captured this butterfly, which is not seen in North America. In fact, there were a few fluttering around - this was one of my best shot!
Posted: 10/12/2025 13:12:03
Hi Pierre: The best lens to use is the one you have with you at the time. Posted: 10/21/2025 19:54:32
Pierre...You rocked it with an 800mm lens!! How difficult that would be for a lens that large and a tiny butterfly. Sometimes that happens. You use what you have for the subject you find. In spite of your difficulties, you did a great job capturing this butterfly shot. Posted: 10/20/2025 01:16:03
Thanks Barbara. Posted: 10/26/2025 14:14:37
What a successful and detailed presentation of this butterfly. Great use of what equipment that you happen to have. Nice dept of field and the butterfly is wonderfully sharp and crips. In order to reduce the impression that the butterfly is less attached to the environment, I might have been tempted to darken slightly the stem and bloom that the butterfly is sitting upon. This might separate these elements from the background a bit and increased the relevance of their role in the image a bit more. A minor point though, Great image ! Posted: 10/21/2025 20:12:26
Great suggestions. Thanks. Posted: 10/26/2025 14:15:19