Why photograph Butterflies & use compact flash cards?
On Sunday I spent several hours taking photographs in the Butterfly Garden at the Museum of Science in Boston, MA. I love Photoshop but always aim to take the perfect picture that will need no edits or perhaps a simple level or curves adjustment and a crop and sharpen. I’ve written Photoshop actions to automatically add adjustment layers when I open up the raw/NEF files. CS4 has a nifty new ADJUSTMENTS PANEL that eliminates the need to take those extra steps for non-destructive edits. Lightroom 2 has superb Web Gallery functionality built right in and additional toning functionality more reminiscent of a “traditional darkroom” set up…not a toolbox. Again, the edits are non-destructive!
My Butterfly Garden is the first time I put up an entire web photo gallery via Lightroom without making a single edit first in Photoshop…not one. Please keep in mind that I tend to crop aggressively and prefer macro work so most of my final photos typically have an even closer viewpoint. Nevertheless, my experiment generated pleasing results. I certainly could have done some additional editing on some of the hilights and shadows in Photoshop but resisted the impulse on principle . Scott Kelby and Chris Orwig are famous Photoshop/Lightroom gurus (my favorite gurus) and they are right on target with their recommendations about incorporating Lightroom into your photography workflow.
Back to the MOS Butterfly Garden: the room is narrow, humid, and warm between 77 and 87 degrees. An entire wall of large glass panes overlooks the chilly Boston Harbor. Butterflies are everywhere. One landed on my hair. I felt the tickle of tiny steps across my head. Some of the butterflies are very active and others barely move. The varieties and colors are amazing. Visitors are simply overjoyed. I see different beautiful creatures every visit. The aroma of very ripe fruit blends with the fragrance of flowering plants. The moist air intensifies this intoxicating combination of scents. This experience is extremely pleasant. I am inserting a few of my favorite pics into this blog. Also feel free to visit my complete Butterfly Garden Web Gallery.
Back to the MOS Butterfly Garden: I left by the exit a few times just to cool off a bit. Immediately upon exiting, the corridor room seems very cool by comparison. The computer exhibit is next door to the Butterfly Garden. Not ultra nerdy…but the energy in the room is very different. You can trace the path of a keystroke input, thru BIOS to ASCI and screen output. An early Gigabyte mini drive, about one third the size of a business card is placed in front of an “earlier” hard drive larger than one of the glass panels in the Butterfly Garden next door. Both drives have their inner workings exposed and look quite similar except in dimension. Compact flash cards have non-magnetic drives which are more rugged and durable and write data quickly for digital photography. This is not quite sensory overload.
Recently, we joined the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, CT. The Peabody has a reciprocal agreement with the Museum of Science. Talk about ROI.
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Excellent pics from the MOS Butterfly Garden. If you have any issues identifying the individual butterflies, I would recommend using a site like Butterflies and Moths of North America (http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/). I am currently planning out my expansion to my backyard butterfly garden on my blog (http://butterflygardenplan.com). Your pics are getting me anxious for spring to arrive. Thanks again for sharing the pics.
Your photos are remarkable. What a wonderful eye you have for capturing these graceful and glorious creatures! I was especially intrigued by the great detail in the eyespot on the wing of the butterfly in the middle of the top row
We visited the BMOS a few weeks back; however, I regret that time did not permit us to spend time in the butterfly garden (after all, we needed to catch the T back to Alewife and retrieve the pooch before 5)… perhaps we’ll get there on our next visit.
Thanks for sharing your lovely photos. You truly are a talented artist!
Hi Rita;
The cool thing about the set up of the web gallery is the automation within Lightroom. The middle row, minus the middle shot, are butterflies starting to mate. The folks at MOS mentioned that they planed flowers to encourage the connection. I was not thrilled with the mating photos so next time I hope to capture something similar with more perspective/detail. If you go up to Boston again, the MOS just opened up an exhibit about Frogs. This museum is my favorite spot in Boston. By any chance did you see the gigantic probability curve based on Pascale’s Triangle?