I am the Outdoor Photographer of the Year 2018, Small World Winner!

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Outdoor Photographer of the Year 2018 Press Release:
We're thrilled to announce the winners, runners-up and commended photographers for the 2018 Outdoor Photographer of the Year competition. Congratulations to all those awarded; it was an extremely tough competition this year, with over 20,000 entries from around the globe.

Stefan Gerrits, who splits his time living between Finland and the Netherlands, won the Small World category with his exquisite and graphic image of a mountain apollo butterfly warming up on heathland in Finland.

www.opoty.co.uk/pages/2018%2Bwinners/

In Finland, this beautiful, elusive, though vulnerable Apollo (Parnassius apollo) was one of the first species of insects declared endangered and protected by law in 1976, as the population decreased drastically commonly thought to be because of a disease, acid rains and climate change.

This year’s northern-hemisphere summer, including Finland’s, has seen a succession of heat waves and lack of rain. June through August of 2018 were about 2 degrees warmer than usual and it was drier in areas from the Åland islands to central Finland. The South-West were the Apollo roams was especially hard-hit, with some areas getting no precipitation for months.

The presence of Sedum telephium, the host plant for the caterpillars, is critical. The plant needs a fairly humid environment to flourish, so the lack of precipitation means fewer hosts for caterpillars to feed on and does therefore not do any good for the species. I am very worried about this vulnerable population in an area I visit every summer in the South-West of Finland.

I photographed this individual after a short, cold, night (8°C) warming up on heath, which is, due to that dry summer, already turning into its autumn colors in June. Overexposed by +8/3 EV to create a high-key image, which makes its iconic red eyes stand out.

Taken on: June 24, 2018

Tags:

Finland

Parainen

Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

Nature

Wildlife

vanbikkel

Apollo

Mountain Apollo

Isoapollo

Parnassius apollo

Apollovlinder

Vlinder

Butterfly

Perhonen

OPOTY

Awarded

Awarded Image « less

Sets appears in: • Best Shots • Dragonflies & Butterflies

Groups appears in: • Mariposas - Farfalle - Butterflies

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, f/7.1, 1/80 sec, 100mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens:	EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Aperture:	f/7.1
Exposure Time:	0.013 sec (1/80)
Focal Length:	100mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	+8/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC (Macintosh)
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