Butterflies and blooms

Fortunately this one held still.

Every summer the Chicago Botanic Garden has their butterflies and blooms event near one of their gardens. This year was no different from the previous ones. It was still awesome with their display of beautiful butterflies.

A very colorful shot.

For shots like this I have my macro setup. I fitted my Canon 5D MK2 with my 100mm macro, with my Canon MR-14 macro ring light attached. The macro ring light is perfect for keeping your aperture as narrow as you can have it. Shooting very close up, a wide aperture will greatly limit your depth of field so it is very helpful if you can close your aperture as much as you can.

Shot without flash.

I didn't bring a tripod with me. A tripod would stabilize my camera better, although it is bothersome in some cases and you should be considerate with other people walking around. Also in some places, a tripod is banned for safety issues...and this is one place where you can't bring one.

This little guy was just hanging out the whole time.

Butterflies and blooms is a yearly event that I never miss. From what we heard, the Chicago botanic garden will be relocating the event next year to a bigger area for more butterflies. I can't wait to see that.

The wide aperture is nice is you can focus properly.