Following on form my recent retrospective on 2010 I thought I’d choose a shot for this week’s Photo of the Week that JUST missed out being included in that retrospective. 2010 was the first year that I managed to get some good shots of the Small Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) in Ireland. I had gotten a few shots of the species before, but in Belgium rather than Ireland. Obviously I’m delighted to have found a colony of Small Coppers along the Royal Canal, but I’m also really happy with the nice warm evening light I shot this in, and the nice dark un-cluttered background.

Small Copper Butterfly
on Flickr – Full-Size

  • Camera: Nikon D40
  • Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
  • Exposure: 1/1000 sec
  • Focal Length: 200mm
  • Focal Ratio: f/8
  • ISO: 400
  • Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
  • Exposure Bias: -1.0ev
  • Processing: tweaked slightly with Aperture’s built-in Dodge & Burn plugin