Monarch Butterflies - Our Waystation Worked!

Last year was a bad one in terms of the number of monarch butterflies in our area. Some coworkers and I decided to plant a patch of milkweed to see if we could bring back a little habitat in a safe area for the butterflies to lay eggs and for the larvae to grow and mature. It was a failure. We didn't see any last year.

 

This year, I've visited the area a few times, and only saw one single adult monarch. However, they've obviously been around. Yesterday, I counted about ten of these lovely monarch caterpillars in our little planting.

 

 

I happened to be carrying my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7, which makes a very nice closeup shot. I simply set the autofocus to Macro setting, exposure to P, and shot.

 

After considering the idea of bringing the caterpillars inside for more protected rearing, I decided that their chances are probably better right where they are. So, I wish the little guys luck!

 

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Some Fun With the Lumix DMC-LX7 and Snapseed

I am on the airplane, returning home from a visit with my parents in Oklahoma. I didn't do a lot of photography on this trip, but did get out for a morning hike at Roman Nose State Park, near the town of Watonga. Here's a simple shot I made of a butterfly at Roman Nose.

 

Backlit Butterfly, by Reed A. George

Panasonic DMC-LX7

 

Certainly what caught my eye in this instant was the backlighting, with the pattern showing through the thin translucent wings.

 

I thought I'd play around with this shot on my iPad, using Google's Snapseed program. Here's what I came up with:

 

After Snapseed Adjustments

 

In order to get this effect, I used one of Snapseed's vintage film colorations, cropping, and of course a custom frame. I tried not to overdo it. I find it reminiscent of cheap color print film and drugstore processing. Kind of fun.

 

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