I’ve come to the end of the macro photography class at WCTC.   Our last field trip was to the Milwaukee Public Museum Butterfly exhibit.    It was a fun assignment.  Some of the challenges were lighting and, of course, shooting butterflies that are moving objects. 

I addressed lighting by increasing ISO to 400 and, at times, 800.  I had a lot of difficulty holding my camera, with the heavier macro lens, steady enough to get focused shots.  A monopod would have been very helpful.   

I tried to shoot in areas where they had added additional flood lights.   It started out sunny but quickly became cloudy, so sun didn't help me out. 

I experimented with using the sports mode feature to see what I would get as the butterflies moved their wings and flitted about.   While I got some unique shots, in some cases, the automatic settings moved the ISO much higher so the shots have more noise or granularity.  

Here are the two posters that I created utilizing some of the best shots.   

I look forward to the portrait photography class that will be offered during the summer semester.