Sarita Yeola
October 2025 - Monarch on Sunflower
About the Image(s)
This image was taken September 27 in a sunflower farm. It was drizzling the entire time we were there so the butterflies were quieter than they would have been. The droplets on the flowers made for some interesting photography opportunities. For this image I cropped the original, adjusted the shadows and highlight and contrast settings in LR.
Nikon Z8: 400mm, 1/250s, f/13, ISO 1250
7 comments posted
Lovely shot, Sarita! Posted: 10/09/2025 21:13:48
Lovely shot of the monarch. I see fewer and fewer of these every year it seems. The eastern ones seem to be doing better. It amazes me they think there is any nectar in a sunflower, but they do go to them. I wrote a blog post about these lovely butterflies if anyone is interested in knowing more about them.
https://diynaturetravel.com/monarch-butterflies/ Posted: 10/09/2025 22:25:07
https://diynaturetravel.com/monarch-butterflies/ Posted: 10/09/2025 22:25:07
Thank you for the article. This year I have not seen as many Monarchs in my garden as the previous years. So seeing this Monarch in the Sunflower filed definitely brought me joy. Posted: 10/13/2025 16:29:46
Wonderful colors. And the butterfly looks so healthy. Posted: 10/10/2025 21:33:46
A lovely photograph, Sarita. Monarchs, such beautiful creatures, have all but vanished from my corner of California. I used to see them all the time when I was growing up in Sacramento many years ago. We have a lot of sunflowers grown around here, though. Maybe I need to get out there and look for them in the farm fields over in Yolo County. Good job! Posted: 10/12/2025 16:14:30
Nice image Sarita, the colors are beautiful and you were able to keep the Butterfly and Sunflower crisp while blurring the back ground. Given your F stop I'm surprised you were able to get the background blurred as much as you did......or perhaps you isolated it in LR/PS wither way..nice image. The Monarch is spectacular! Posted: 10/16/2025 16:49:19
Don't want to duplicate what others have already said...my only suggestion would be to crop the top of the flower a little bit less so that the entire inside part of the flower is visible. This is subjective and just my opinion. Posted: 10/17/2025 02:50:01