2013 was a great year for butterflies in the yard and I worked on getting my technique to a point where I felt I could get a really good shot of them with a variety of lenses. We also had a tremendous year for Dragonflies here in Florida and often, when I was walking over at Orlando Wetlands Park, I'd stop looking up and out for birds and other wildlife and look down to see what amazing bugs would be right under my nose -- literally.

Third place in my Bug category was this Roseate Dragonfly that I captured in our back yard. First time I'd seen one of these.



Second place went to this golden guy I captured over at the Wetlands. The gossamer wings really caught my eye.



And first place in the Bug Category goes to this Tiger Dragonfly that I also captured at the Wetlands. The light was just right to show off those stripes.



I had a ton of butterfly shots but this one placed Third: this is a Tiger Swallowtail that I first spotted in the yard in the Spring and he was still cruising the yard a couple of weeks ago. Very pretty and very big.



We had a ton of Gulf Fritillaries this year and I used a different technique to capture this guy -- I used my 580 EX flash to help emphasize the colors on the wings and balanced that against the background colors that matched. Also used my EF100 F2.8 Macro. So, it took a bit of stalking to get that close.



And, finally, my Best Butterfly photo is this image of a Zebra Longwing also captured in the yard. These guys are amazing in flight with those long tails and they were a new Butterfly for me so I really enjoyed being able to get this shot.



That's it for my Bugs and Butterfly picks. Hope you enjoyed them.

Jim


Jim Garvie
www.jagphoto.biz