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Malachite Butterfly

Malachite or Bamboo Page Butterfly
Metamorpha stelenes

A widespread butterfly in the southern USA, it migrates as far as the West Indies.

This is an extreme close up using my macro lens mounted on bellows. The picture is a bit soft as I was using natural light which required a relatively long exposure.

I did take some flash shots with my Macro Twin Lite twin flash unit mounted on the front of the lens. The butterfly came out much sharper, but the background was lost in darkness. Of the two I prefer the "natural" look of the photo above.

Below are two small-area crops from the full-size images for a direct quality comparison.

Eye detail - daylight Eye detail - flashlight
Natural light
Flash-lit


Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Metamorpha
Latin name: Metamorpha stelenes
Common name: Malachite Butterfly