Shallow Depth of Field and the Detroit Zoo

When I got the assignment for Shallow Depth of Field, I knew immediately what I wanted to do.  Actually, I had two ideas, the second of which will be covered in the next post.  I wanted to go to the Detroit Zoo and take pictures in the butterfly house.

To that end I called up Ken since I knew he enjoys going to the zoo.  He was up for the trip so off we went.


Upon arriving, our first stop was the butterfly house and Aviary.  It had been awhile since I'd been there and when I walked in and looked to the left I saw something that surprised me. 

The butterfly house is part of a larger building.  This part of the building used to house the aquarium.  It developed a leak so the fish were sent to the Aquarium on Belle Isle and this theater was installed.  The screen is a globe in the center of the room. 

A number of different images appeared on the screen, but this was the most captivating.  What you don't see here is that the image was slowly rotating.

After a bit in the theater, I headed in for my quarry.  I don't recall the species of butterflies, so I'll leave you to enjoy them.

This was the largest butterfly they had.  Although rather plain here, when in flight, the tops of the wings were a beautiful sky blue that is just a bit visible on the far wing.

Flowers in winter.

I've got to say that some of my recent subjects have been pretty challenging.  Birds on Ken's hand.  Bouncing dice.  And now butterflies.

Trying to catch a butterfly was pretty difficult.  The brown one above was the easiest as it sat there for quite some time.  These were almost constantly in motion.  Even when they would alight to drink, it would only be a momentary stop before they were off again.

One of the flowers they seemed to enjoy.

A quick rest.

Stopping for a drink.

I spent of my time at the zoo trying to get pictures of butterflies.  After leaving, I hooked up with Ken again and met near the eagles.  The eagles here are unable to fly, but still look pretty majestic.

We stopped by the arctic exhibit.  The polar bears were pretty active, but I wasn't able to get very many good shots.