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Welcome to Daves Moth and Butterfly World - About Me

Welcome to Dave McCormick's Moth and Butterfly World. Here is some information about me and my site and why I decided to create this website.

Name: David McCormick

Born: 11 May 1988

Live: Northern Ireland

Background of David McCormick

Dave McCormick and Pals

A close up of David McCormick showing his Canon 400D Camera & Sigma 105mm Lens and mating Green Veined Whites on finger - Northern Ireland, June 2007 - Photo James McCormick. Sorry, no headshot yet.

When I first noticed I was interested in butterflies and moths, it was when I first moved from the town to the country when I was young. I'd never seen many of the differently varieties of butterflies or moths before and pretty soon, I was learning loads about them. My neighbour across the road from me, set up a moth trap various times over the years and I began to see all the different species that lived around me.

I first really noticed I liked moths and butterflies, when I was in the newspaper for finding a rare moth. It was not rare at all, but just a Garden Tiger. I remembered finding a large female the day before and saw the info in my local newspaper. I was in the newspaper for finding out the information the person wanted to know. I was only 7 or 8 at the time.

Since then, I have bred various moths and butterflies, from Painted Lady butterflies, Cabbage White butterflies to White Ermine Moths and Yellow Underwing moths and more. Then in 2006, I got my camera.

First Cameras I have owned and used

Vivitar 4345

My first camera was a Vivitar ViviCam 4345 and it had a max resolution of 4 megapixels (2340x1728). That was fine as I was not totally sure how to take great photo's anyway.

Samsung Digimax L85

My Next camera, a Samsung Digimax L85, the very first HDMI, MEPG-4 camera with a max resolution of 8.1 megapixels (3264x2448) was a great quality camera with features I liked. With better and smaller file sized videos, I can now bring you great moth and butterfly footage from around the world, where ever I find them. Also, I can bring you better quality photo's and closer views of moths and butterflies.

I got this camera because of the better zoom, picture features and overall quality and also, with widescreen mode too. Get really close up to the subjects as well. My wish is after seeing Digital SLR shots, is having one.

My DSLR: Canon 400D


Canon 400D and Canon 18-5mm Lens

My last camera so far is a Canon 400D D-SLR. I got it with a Canon EFS 18-55mm lens, which is good, but not really for macro shots. I am glad I got this at the end of the butterfly season as I can now get ready and know how to use the camera when the time is right, when the butterfly/moth season really begins again.

The Canon 400D is great for butterflies and insects as you don't have to get so close to them with the right lens. I got this in mid November 2007 and in February 2008, I got my Sigma 105mm Macro lens and was ready to shoot butterflies and insects with the camera, just had to learn how to use it properly.

Sigma_105mm
Sigma 105mm EX DG Macro - Canon AF Fit

My DSLR: Canon 500D

Canon500D
Canon 500D and Sigma 105mm Macro Lens

I got a new camera, Canon 500D D-SLR on the start of July 2009 and I got it with Canon 18-55mm IS lens and Tamon 18-200 IF Macro Lens. The 18-55mm lens is good with image stabilisation as I have noticed when using it, in lower lights, even handheld photos don't usually blur if you have a stable hand, even if the photo takes up to 1 second to take.

The movie mode the camera has is very good, but using the LCD screen was a little awkward to get used to at first, but its good to use. I did not like using the live view on shooting photos because the viewfinder is a better choice and because the camera is the size it is, a compact camera is better when using the screen to shoot photos.

Overall this was a better upgrade from my 400D I think, but the 50D might have been better, but I wanted this camera because it has movie mode and cost a little less with the lens kit I got.

About this website

I created this site in 2006 and finished in late August 2007, as I want to share to the world my knowledge of butterflies and moths. I love taking pictures of them and sharing those is great. In doing this however, it costs money to buy the equipment and books I needed for my research and initial creation of this site. It is worth it, as you might know.

I have made this site as easy to use as possible and for best 1024x768 resolution, the site is easy to navigate through, no matter what browser your using. This sites design has changed 3 times in total. It used to have two frames and was optimised for 56k Dial-up (most pages) and screen resolutions of 1024x768.

But now it just has no frames and everything is in tables and has been tested on an 8.9 inch widescreen at 1024x600 and it loaded fine and there was no need for scrolling left and right, so in your screen it should load, but it might appear a little big on an 800x600 resolution screen.

Occasionally I may have someone else take photo's of moths and butterflies as well, but most of the images will be taken by me. This is a hobby that takes a long time and careful planning. When nature stops for the winter, I also stop. When nature begins in the spring, so do I. This site hibernates through the winter, with the moths and butterflies.

This site may have incomplete information due to the fact I don't know everything about butterflies and moths. If there are any problems with the information, please contact me and I will fix/edit the information.

This was bigger project than I anticipated as you can see. It will take you a while to see all on site. I tried to expand your knowledge of butterflies and moths. I know more from doing this too.

Page last edited: 25/07/2009 21:08

(c) David McCormick 2009