Well I hemmed and hawed about going to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences today. I knew the hours so there was no surprise there. I put my Sigma macro lens on the camera, got some paper towels, the spare battery and threw every thing into a double plastic bag. I waited for a cab in the rain for about 5 minutes, got soaked, got into the cab and went to the Academy. The cab ride did not take too long and I took some pictures of the rain on the window on the way.
So I got into the Academy right at 04:00 PM. Got into the wrong line and then into the right one and as soon as I did one of the two cashiers (for lack of better terms, I'm sure they have a much loftier job title but I'm not quite sure what it might be) LEFT! So meanwhile the remaining cashier is doing a membership for someone. Then waited on the next couple, with a charge which seemed to take forever (why to ATM's and Charge Card Processing Machines take so long to work when it rains?) Well the charged couple was done...and mind you this young lady did her job wonderfully...she pushed the Butterfly Room on EVERYBODY! The more the merrier, eh?
Then came the little family from Cluelesstown. OK. Great looking couple, him a dirty blond just over 6ft her a bottled blonde and quite statuesesque (sic) and the kid, about 4-6 was light brown haired and very cute. They would have mind a fine picture opportunity. But WOW when it came to making a decision they all just changed their minds a bit too much. No wonder the cashier got confused and charged them for something he did not want. And then had to process the credit. Then charge for the correct amount... WITH THE BUTTERFLY ROOM! Ach!
They finally left...I was struck silent and could not move from it all. I woke up quickly, got my ticket with butterfly room, got the directions and waddled off.
Now something had happened to the camera. Not a bad thing. Just a 'How did that happen?' thing. I remembered to change the size setting to JPEG fine and when I was doing it, I found the camera was on JPEG basic. Not a big deal, I just don't know how it got that way. Well most of what I took on the way in the cab was not too great anyway.
So I shot, and shot, and shot....and the room mind you is set at 80°F and 80% humidity. I was fast turning into a puddle. I eventually had to take my jacket and hooded sweatshirt off and that helped a bit. There was no staff about like the last time I was there a few years back to ask why the place was not clothing optional. I took over two hundred shots in less than 45 minutes. People came and went pretty quickly do to the unseasonal atmosphere in the room....the Clueless family came and left like a shot...too much worry about how they would all look with the frizzies, I guess. At one point, a swallowtail flew onto my camera and I asked if anyone had a camera and this nice young lady came up and took a picture of it with her cell phone. She said she would email it to me. I'll post it later if I get it.
So that's about all. I got out right before closing and waited for a cab for about 10-15 minutes, got soaked again and took more pictures of the rain on the window on the way home...in RAW....I remembered to change the camera back this time. I got home and uploaded and sorted the pictures, threw a lot away (I got very dehydrated there and started to shake more than usual), picked about a dozen I liked, processed 6 of them and picked this one. I think the exposure was is just about right, the detail on the butterly is fine and I love the DOF. Compositionally the feet of the butterfly are just a little too low in the frame but what are you going to do. I would also crop a could chunk off the top. Of the rest of the 6, 1 was a little blown out and 3 were a tad dark. The remaining one is as good as this one but I just had too pick one.
Post: Open. Sharpen. Resize. Sharpen.
The End
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beautiful! classic. I really like the composition here too I like all the empty space it gives the butterfly room to breath and fly in the photo. Great exposure and clarity too
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