Painted

We enjoyed the spectacle of three Painted Ladies, a Small Tortoiseshell, and two Small Whites competing to drink from the centranthus on the front wall this afternoon, along with a side show from two stunning male Southern Hawkers, which were hunting up and down the lane and in and our of our and our neighbour's gardens. The hawkers were moving too fast and erratically within a fairly narrow space for me to have had the slightest chance of tracking them with a camera, so I just stood and watched them for pleasure for a while, before turning my attention to the butterflies.

It's tricky to shoot this plant in strong overhead light, because the pale petals tend to produce highlights that blow out very readily, and today the pale and slightly iridescent upper surface of the butterfly's wings were also bouncing the light quite strongly; so over time I dropped my exposure further and further, and by the time I'd stopped getting clipping warnings from the camera I had it set to -1 stop. I've lifted it a little in processing, though it's still pretty low-key, but I do quite like it. I hope it works for you too.

This evening the Offspring both came home for a belated celebration of R's birthday - it was a real treat to get to talk to them both for the evening. Family times are still the best times!