Blue Butterfly Taking Off -- 4 Frames
in 1/15 Second
This is Plebejus saepiolus, the Greenish Blue
butterfly. It is shown at takeoff after nectaring on yarrow (Achillea millefolium).
The four frames are in sequence, 1/60 second apart.
The image capture was done by analog video camera at its "high speed
sports" shutter setting -- about 1/4000 second.
Analog video is often described as 30 frames per second, but it is
actually 60 fields
per second, each field consisting of just the odd- or even-numbered
scan lines. By post-processing to separate the fields, one can
effectively get low resolution snapshots (320x240 pixels) at 60 per
second, as shown here.
Page last modified August 14, 2005.