Gray hairstreak butterfly on vervain

[LindaHarden]

Camera - Nikon D90 Flash SB700 with Diffuser, Lens Sigma 150 Macro and handheld
EV -.3 Exp 1/250s ISO 200 Aperture F14.

My post processing is in capture NX2.... levels and curves, cropping and tried to go for selective sharpening of the antenna and top corner of wing as well as overall sharpening using high-pass sharpening. I am still working to understand the best sharpening techniques in NX2...

CC most welcome. There was a little room on all sides of the crop and I had one version with more of the plant stems.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8cAFwhdVzww/UALPsFfq6qI/AAAAAAAAAC0/sjJp5TgQufs/s800/DSC_7268%2520D90%2520gray%2520hairstreak2.JPG

[Jim Bridges]

Hi, Linda. I use NX2 for all my post processing too. Here's my sharpening technique using it... you can give it a try and see how it works for you. You can always tweak it to your liking. But this should give you a good starting point.

All Global
1. USM - Intensity 50% - Radius 10% - Threshold 10
2. USM - Intensity 25%
3. USM - Intensity 12%
4. Gaussian Blur - Radius - 2px/ Opacity - 4%

Then I'll do selective USM as I see fit all depending on the subject. I hope this helps.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Linda. The butterfly gave you a nice pose and the diffused flash gave you very natural looking lighting. You also did well with the background. I think the butterfly could stand just a little more sharpening to make it pop. I like where you placed the butterfly in the frame, but the plants aren't working that well for me - the stem behind the butterfly's head is a little distracting - if you had moved a little to your left in the field you may have been able to position the butterfly against a cleaner background (this assumes that the butterfly would then turn perpendicular to you and pose nicely again - unfortunately, they don't always do as they're told. :S3: Just something to keep in mind the next time you are in the field). Also, to my eye, the comp seems out of balance with empty space on the left and the plant stem on the right being cut by the edge of the frame. If you have the room, you might add just enough on the right to fit all of the stem in and then I would suggest cloning the OOF bits of stem that are just creeping into the frame on the right. Since cropping and comp are always somewhat subjective, it will be interesting to see what others chime in. :S3:

[LindaHarden]

Thanks Jim for the sharpening tips. I'll give that a try.
Thanks Steve on the observations. I saw what I did on the right side of the frame after I posted. I have room to fix that part. I didn't have much time with this little BF and I was a little ambivalent with the results. Your observations confirmed some of my concerns. I do like the texture in the vervain but in this case it didn't quite work out.

[Charissa]

Lovely clean and crisp shot.