I have written many times that photography, especially nature photography is all about problem solving.  Embrace that fact and you will enjoy yourself.

I started out the day (8/14/11) with hopes of photographing some butterflies.  As I arrived at a good location, overcast skies and winds made this look like a difficult proposition.  Then there was the fact that there were no butterflies to be found.  My philosophy has always been if your subject doesn’t show up, find another one.  I noticed that there were flies and bees frequenting the Joe-Pye Weed and Purple Coneflowers and I now had my subject.  Of course it was still windy and cloudy.  Whether it is bees or butterflies that overcast lighting still meant that my shutter speeds would be too slow to stop the moving blossoms.  That same lighting would mean that my depth of field (f stop) would be shallow.  Shallow enough to mean that my focus would not cover my subject as that wind moved those blossoms back and forth, in and out.

I’ve done all this a time or two before and experience tells me that I can sometimes time my shot in between the movements.  You actually have to time the wind movement in your mind, and then depress the shutter button a fraction of a second before everything quiets down.  It worked and the first image below was the resulting photo.  That photo is also the only sharp picture out of six.  I could use flash for my primary lighting.   If I would have brought a flash.  Then I remembered that I was using my second tier Nikon.  My trusty D80 has a small dedicated (ttl) flash that pops up.  It has saved me before and it saved me this time.  From using limited depth of field and a slow shutter speed I went to f32 and 1/40th of a second with a flash duration of maybe 1/5000th of a second.  I took my camera off of aperture priority at minus 2/3rds of one stop, and switched to manual (still multi segmented not spot) metering.   One quick guess exposure proved I was a tad over exposing so I increased my shutter speed slightly.  All of the bee photos after the first one, were made in this fashion.

Why Nikon’s and Canon’s top-tier cameras do not include a small dedicated pop-up flash is beyond me.  My Nikon D70 and D80 have this and my expensive D3 (long gone) did not.  This is not an amateur tool.  The lesser cameras have hot shoes and use an assortment of extras along with all of the manufacturers best flash units if you wish.  Yes it can be necessary to take your flash off camera, or to use more powerful or multiple flashes.  I have done all of those things.  It isn’t always necessary and you would be surprised at how many photographers that I meet with these Nikon cameras who have never thought about using this tool.  Use everything you have to make the pictures you want.

With Flash

I found a caterpillar on my way out.  That wind was not strong enough to move this wooden bench and like most caterpillars, this one was pretty slow.  All of that meant that no flash was needed.

Thank you