Tag Archives: Bokeh

Comma butterfly

Comma Butterfly

Late last summer my neighbour painted his shed. Now with the onset of spring I can really appreciate his work. The bokeh effect in this photograph of a newly emerged comma butterfly takes full advantage of the green background. It sets off the orange of the butterfly’s wings beautifully.

The butterfly flitted around the garden on a sunny spring afternoon and eventually landed on the cherry tree, itself just beginning to bud. The hottest March day in the UK since 1968 according to the BBC weatherman.

For those interested in the technicalities the camera I used was a Nikon D5200 with a crop sensor and the lens was a Tamron 100-400mm. The settings were ISO 200, f/8, 1/320 sec.

Stonechat

Male stonechat on Teasel
Male Stonechat

The Stonechat is so named because the sound it makes is like two stones or pebbles being banged together. The male has the darker head. The female is a more muted brown. These birds are quite widespread and I see them all through the year at different locations. They are normally seen sitting prominently on the top of a gorse bush or hawthorn bush or heather, before flitting into the air to catch a passing insect.

I have numerous shots like this of both the male and female, but this is probably my best example where the bokeh effect of the background enhances and isolates the main subject. This shot was taken at Badbury Rings in Dorset, but I have seen them at Longham lakes, Stanpit Marsh, Hengistbury Head, Whitesheet, RSPB Arne and Canford Heath – all local sites.