Butterflies and Sprinklers
Sprinklers On! – Dayton Photographer Alex Sablan (click image to see full size)
A break in the heat wave came just in time for the opening of the Butterfly House at Cox Arboretum MetroPark one of the Five Rivers MetroParks in Dayton, Ohio. I decided to take my lunch down at the park today, and see what was happening at the Butterfly House.
The park was beaming full of children and Seniors. With the break in the heat, it was probably the first day out for groups. The temperature around Noon was in the lower 80’s and there was a cool breeze, a huge change from the record breaking highs of the last few weeks.
With the 40 minutes I had to shoot over lunch, I parked and headed straight to the Butterfly House on the far side of the front pond.
Monarch at Cox – Dayton Photographer Alex Sablan (click image to see larger version)
Gear for the Shoot
I took my 70-300m Tamron on my Nikon D5000 body. I choose the long lens so I could stay back without disturbing the butterflies. Last year, before I had the long lens, it was just a frustrating pain in the butt to try to get close enough to fill the frame. I was shooting at 200 ISO in manual mode shooting bracketed at 2/3rds of a stop in 3 shot groupings. I used whatever the largest aperture I could use for my given focal length. I metered on spot and adjusted the exposure compensation based on the color of the butterfly/flower. If you have any question on gear or the photos just drop a comment below or go to my Facebook page and leave a message there.
Sprinklers at Cox – Dayton Photographer Alex Sablan (click image to see larger version)
Butterfly House – Dayton Photographer Alex Sablan (click image to see larger version)