34/52 - A Mars a day

A Mars a day

The inspiration for this weeks entry for the project came from an advertisement for Mars bars that runs on TV. The actual shot in the commercial is a lot closer than this one but I wanted to include the texture of the chocolate on the top of the bar and had to shoot a bit wider as a result. I felt this composition was better than a zooming right into the chocolate and making the nougat the dominant feature.

Lighting setup after the jump.

Lighting setup - A Mars a day

This was a two light setup.

The texture for the chocolate came from the main light which was a Canon 430 EX II fired at 1/8th into a reflective umbrella which was placed behind the subject on the right of camera (about 2 o'clock on the final shot).

The insides of the chocolate was lit by a Canon 530 EX II fired at 1/16th through a home made grid spot from below the subject. The chocolate was placed on a piece of glass and this created a reflection. 

A Piece of white paper was placed just out of frame on camera left to bounce the main light onto the subject and light the other side of the chocolate.

A black foam-core board was placed behind the chocolate for the background.

Chocolate Soldier

A Chocolate Soldier photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

The Chocolate Soldier is a common butterfly found in Asia. It is also known as the Chocolate Pansy. These butterflies are territorial and they spend a lot of time close to the ground. I found a number of them in Anuradhapura and they were all, rather surprisingly, within three feet of the ground. More info and images after the jump.

A Chocolate Soldier photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

The wingspan of the Chocolate Soldier is around 5 - 6cm. The depth of the brown colour on the upper-sides of both the male and the female vary. The females can be identified by the white markings on the oblique line on the underside of the hind wing.

A Chocolate Soldier photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

This butterfly lays its eggs on the ground or on dry twigs in close proximity to host plants. Once the larvae have hatched, they find their way to the host plants. It is unusual that the butterfly does not lay eggs on the host plants themselves. The larvae are a dark, dull brown in colour. 

A Chocolate Soldier photographed in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Surprisingly these butterflies didn't mind my presence as they let me get very close to photograph them. I used the 100-400mm lens on the 7D. I feel I would have been able to get closer to it but was constrained because of the minimum focusing distance on the lens.