Butterfly

That is a pretty butterfly Dave,

Did you find him in your. They are hard to catch being still for very long.

 

That is a pretty butterfly Dave,

Did you find him in your yard. They are hard to catch being still for very long.

 

Nice shootin' Dave!!      

 

Hi Dave,

it seems to be an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) but with white patches (may be some form of morphing). Here's a link which will help for future butterflies identification
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/fl/703.htm

Nice picture. The butterfly's shape looks very alike the nearby leaves.

 

There are a number of forms of Papilio glaucus according to the seaboard they are found on. There is a DARK form which is very unusual.
If I remember rightly the common name in the USA is also Tiger Swallowtail.
They are quite famous in the world of lepidoptera as one of the first known drawing of this species was done by John White in the 1580's. He was the leader of the 3rd expedition to Sir Walter Raleigh's Virginia Colonies.
They are lovely butterflies and very similar to the Scarce Swallowtail on the mainland of Europe, Iphiclides podalirius., which I will be chasing around the fields of Southern France in about 5/6 weeks time.

Nice picture taken with an excellent Macro lens. Normally the average butterflies are taken at a reproduction ratio of 1:3 but this species is quite large and I, like you, like to give them space within the frame.

Best wishes. Bob F. (UK)

 

Nice catch Dave! Have a critical comment

I know you didn't ask for one, but that's never stopped me before  
Went to smugmug to view the original, then finally decided to copy your Swallowtail to work on in PS/CS. I found that your DOF was rather shallow @f4, since parts of it's wings are OOF, due to this shallow DOF. Probably needed more along the order of f8 or so. Those macro lenses have a mighty shallow DOF!
Also felt your crop was too loose, leaving too much open frame around the COI, the butterfly. I think it could use a bit more USMing as well.
If you'd like to see what I came up with, say the word, and I'll (temporarily) upload it, so you can see it here.

 

ok Dave, I've got your version & mine side-by-side

Can you see that some parts of the wingtips were OOF?
Your original:


My crop + USM (nik CS Pro set to Level 2 w/Opacity Tweak set to 70%:

 

It is a zebra swallow tail. We ran into hundreds of them last week on a bike ride down the C&O canal that runs from Cumberland, MD to Georgetown, DC.

 

zebra Swallowtail

I, too, would go with the Zebra Swallowtail. Very common in the D.C. and Virginia areas, especially along small streams (although found elsewhere). If you noticed any Paw Paw trees around, you will usually find Zebra Swallowtails.
Of course, you have had lots of opinions as to what this is, I'm simply adding another to confuse you.
My very best,
Jerry S