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Post by cabintom on Dec 14, 2015 20:38:02 GMT
Since a number of you seem at least somewhat interested here's a picture of my poor-man's photo setup: No flash involved. Back in Canada, I had to experiment a bit with the bulbs, as the first set I purchased were too blue. These ones are a bit too yellow. Strangely, and this might have more to do with my camera -I'm not sure-, when I photograph an orange/red/yellow specimen the background comes out a bit tinted yellowish grey, while if the butterfly is brown/black the background is grey without a tint.
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Post by cabintom on Dec 14, 2015 21:31:41 GMT
Lubowa, Uganda : June/July 2015Here's my last post for today... another few specimens. You'll notice that a couple of them have stains on the hindwings. This seems to have happened while papered. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can avoid staining like this from happening in the future? These first 3 were caught around midday on the hilltop. Charaxes varanes vologeses Charaxes brutus angustus (watching these guys in their aerial territorial battles is amazing... I tried to catch on film, but they're far, far too quick.) Unidentified moth (Anyone know what the structure on the FW tornus might be?) The next 2 were caught in the Inn's garden. Papilio echerioides joiceyi (male) Precis octavia sesamus (I'm not 100% on the subspecies.)
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Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 14, 2015 21:51:39 GMT
Strangely, and this might have more to do with my camera -I'm not sure-, when I photograph an orange/red/yellow specimen the background comes out a bit tinted yellowish grey, while if the butterfly is brown/black the background is grey without a tint. The different background colours are due to using fluorescent tube lighting. You may find that white LED lights will help solve this problem. Adam.
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Post by timmsyrj on Dec 14, 2015 22:03:40 GMT
You can also change the camera settings in the menu to different lighting situations, I use the incandescent setting when shooting set specimens under artificial lighting.
Rich
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Post by Paul K on Dec 15, 2015 2:26:02 GMT
Hi Tom I very like your pictures and butterflies. I wish I could spread mine and enjoy them same you do. Keep an eye on them there in Africa. All the best
Paul
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Post by cabintom on Dec 15, 2015 4:41:38 GMT
Thanks for the great input/feedback everyone! The different background colours are due to using fluorescent tube lighting. You may find that white LED lights will help solve this problem. Using white LEDs was my first attempted lighting experiment. I found that the background did come out with a more stable colouration, but the specimens themselves weren't as true to life. All the colours and details just looked flat... so anything of a "metallic" nature especially, was poorly represented in the photo. You can also change the camera settings in the menu to different lighting situations As Rich suggest, try changing the White Balance (WB) settings on your camera to "Fluorescent". It looks like I'm going to be learning more about photography. I didn't even realize my camera had built-in white balance settings until just now, when I checked. If I can capture these photos with minimal post-processing that would save me a lot of time.
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Post by cabintom on Dec 15, 2015 5:08:40 GMT
The nearest I got to your specimen on a quick search was Asota speciosa, which seem to feed on Ficus species and other poisonous plants. Definitely Asota, thanks! And thank you for the informative post as well! There's so much to learn. EDIT: It seems to me like you got the species correct as well: aganainae.nl/main_detail.asp?Id=269 It looks to be a fairly variable species.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Dec 15, 2015 6:38:00 GMT
Re: white balance as "fluorescent", it should get you very close. It can vary slightly according to bulb type; it's likely that you can set a custom white balance in your camera (the manual will explain this). That will produce perfect white balance every time as long as your lighting stays the same. I'm seeing a very minor warm cast (i.e. yellow) in your photos...which are excellent, by the way.
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Post by cabintom on Dec 15, 2015 7:19:43 GMT
I'm seeing a very minor warm cast (i.e. yellow) in your photos...which are excellent, by the way. Thank you! And yes, the hint of yellow (esp. where the specimen should be pure white, or where creamy whites turn to a light yellow) has been bothering me. I'll definitely look into setting a custom white balance.
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Post by timmsyrj on Dec 15, 2015 8:05:35 GMT
Yes you will be learning a lot more about photography, it's taken me ages to get photos I'm reasonably happy with through playing about with white balance, depth of field, film speed ( though most of us don't use film anymore ) but it still makes a difference, faster speeds in different light works etc, the main thing is to try and keep the natural or artificial light as constant as you can, at least nowadays we don't waste 2-3 rolls of film, send them off to be developed (unless you did your own) and when they returned you'd be very happy if you got 3-4 good photos, now if your not happy with 1, you just delete and try again. The only trouble with setting the white balance is remembering you've got it set, so I use the manual mode for specimen photos and switch to auto for all other photos, otherwise the everyday, habitat / holiday snaps won't look true, why professionals have so many cameras, all set up differently, but they're not spending hundreds of pounds year on specimens..
Rich
By the way, some led emit U.V and the white emitted varies in intensity, temperature (kelvin) warm whites about 2,000-4,000 kelvin will give a yellowish white and cool white about 7,000-10,000 kelvin will bluish tinge to the whites, the LEDs on my fish tank lights have 4 different whites between 3,500K up to 14,000K and 6 different blues including pure U.V, the PAR levels are designed to match natural sunlight in water up to 2ft deep, these are specialist lights I know, designed for growing corals but even the cheaper lights vary so it's worth checking the temperature (kelvin, K) and aim for around 4,000-6000K for near natural white.
T4 tubes like those in your set up would probably be either 2,600K or possibly 3,500K there pretty much standard sort of temperatures for this type of light, others are available ( designed for grow lights, fish tank lights etc ) but as you are getting slight yellowing they are in the warm light spectrum.
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Post by cabintom on Dec 15, 2015 18:17:48 GMT
According to Google my bulbs are 4100K. Unless, I can find some other bulbs locally (not easy here) I think I'm stuck with them for some time. I'd be surprised if anyone would/could actually ship some to me.
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Post by africaone on Dec 16, 2015 7:51:21 GMT
The Charaxes boueti (you figured by accident) has a strange story. it was an uncommon and localised species (occidental Africa) some dozens years ago. It was introduced in all central Africa with Bamboo (his foodplant) and is now a (very) common species in all occidental and central africa. There is something close and much more rare, Charaxes rectans, that may be found in the exreme NE of Congo (may be together K. jacksoni ? in Bamboo forest) and of course C. alticola (a common local orophile in high altitude forest in this region).
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Post by cabintom on Dec 16, 2015 8:34:35 GMT
The Charaxes boueti (you figured by accident) has a strange story. it was an uncommon and localised species (occidental Africa) some dozens years ago. It was introduced in all central Africa with Bamboo (his foodplant) and is now a (very) common species in all occidental and central africa. There is something close and much more rare, Charaxes rectans, that may be found in the exreme NE of Congo (may be together K. jacksoni ? in Bamboo forest) and of course C. alticola (a common local orophile in high altitude forest in this region). I wish I could thumbs up your comment again! I was planning on asking, when I got around to posting the final images, if anyone had information on the species. Robert Ducarme gave me a copy of his 10+ year-old "census" he did on Charaxes in the region and in it he noted that C. boueti is very rare in Nord Kivu, south Ituri. So I was surprised to find this one in my trap a couple of weeks ago... especially since the only other Charaxes I've caught thus far in Bunia has been C. brutus angustus (I find about 1 or 2 a day in my trap).
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Post by africaone on Dec 16, 2015 18:21:58 GMT
it is a species that follows man and then can be found in town and cultivated areas, You can find it common in bamboo forest (unfortunely a kind of insect desert) I caught some during my last trip near Kisangani two years ago despite I didn't hunt rhardly Charaxes. I tried to make a female laying eggs, but failed.
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Post by cabintom on Dec 28, 2015 17:44:29 GMT
Lubowa, Uganda : June/July 2015Time for another batch of photos of butterflies from Lubowa, Uganda! Here are some Charaxes, which thanks to my traps and increased knowledge of their habits, I've finally begun to catch with regularity (I had relatively little success my first year in Africa). These first 2 were found hilltopping. C. pollux (Unlike the other Charaxes, this species didn't seem to have the same affinity for perching in high locations. I have a couple of nicer specimens sitting in the humidifier at the moment.) C. lactetinctus (male) C. tiridates (top: male, bottom: female This species was readily trapped with fermented banana bait. Most males I captured were in almost pristine condition, while this female is in the best condition out of the 3 I took in the traps.)
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