Sunday 15 July 2012

Scarce Copper & Black-veined White

And the last butterfly pictures from the Swiss Alps. Scarce Copper (Lycaena virgaureae/Morgenrood) perching on a wheat ear and Black-veined White (Aporia crataegi/Groot Geaderd Witje) between the sweet summer colors of Rosebay Willowherb (Epilobium angustifolium/Wilgenroosje). Both photos are taken not far from our “amis de la nature” house at Finhaut-Giétroz (alt. 1350m). A quiet and peaceful place, very friendly hostess, and delicious cooking with biological products!

* Canon EOS 7D with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f5, 1/400s; -0.3 stop; hand held.
* Canon EOS 7D with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f4, 1/125s; -0.3 stop; hand held.

Saturday 14 July 2012

Apollo

Hi, I am an Apollo (Parnassius apollo/Apollovlinder). Early in the morning the warmth of the sun wakes me up. At day-time I glide without any effort above steep rocky slopes and colorful flower carpets, enjoying my freedom. And when the sun goes down at the end of the day I pick a special flower to rest for the night, waiting to get air-born again tomorrow.

* Canon EOS 7D with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f3.2, 1/100s; -0.3 stop; hand held.

Thursday 12 July 2012

Alpine Heath

Alpine Heath (Coenonympha gardetta/Alpenhooibeestje) at Riederalp (alt. 2000m), Switzerland. At the end of the day the butterflies ‘disappeared’ all of a sudden in the vegetation. Arie Ouwerkerk and Iolente Navarro were experts in finding these resting insects in the long grass. I also gave it a try, and every time I found something it turned out to be an Alpine Heath (one of easier ones according to them), so why not photographing them in backlight?

* Canon EOS 7D with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/320s; -0.3 stop; hand held.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Lötschental

Mountain current in Lötschental, Switzerland (alt. 1800m). I went with Kees Ouwerkerk, Arie Ouwerkerk & Iolente Navarro to the kanton of Wallis (Valais) last week. Besides butterflies I captured also some landscapes. Here is one of them. The flower field (left on the photo) was a real butterfly paradise. Near a sloped edge a bit higher up in the field at least 6 Clouded Apollo's (Parnassius mnemosyne/Zwarte Apollo) were flying around.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 19mm; ISO-50, f22, 1.3s; polarization filter and 3 stop ND soft gradient filter; from tripod.