Monarch

[Bob Miller]

Taken in a butterfly exhibit in Md. .....background was a purple garden fence
Nikon D3s
180 mm macro
HH
1/400 sec at f5.6
ISO800
overcast

[Marina Scarr]

The colors here go so well together and are quite stunning, Bob. As I was looking through my butterfly images today, I was wondering whether it was acceptable to have a capture where the body is in focus but some of the body is OOF. I guess I have my answer. What exactly is your BG here?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Brilliant colours and good focus on the head. For my taste I would suggest too saturated/vibrant. I suspect it was not possible but if it was I would say the image would have been much much stronger had you been more round to the left so that you have gotten the plane of focus perpendicular to the wings.

[PRABIR BHATTACHARYYA]

The image has come out very well. I'd say just near awesome.
The only nit is, as Jonathan has pointed out, the focusing plane, in my opinion.
The color saturation also looks a bit on the higher side.
But it all depends on the way one sees it and it varies from person to person.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Bob. A lovely mix of colors - perhaps a bit on the bright side, but it depends on your personal taste and how you want your image to look. Nice comp and good sharpness within your DOF. I expect folks may have strong opinions both ways regarding the DOF. Some will love the shallow DOF and somewhat abstract look, while others will want the whole butterfly sharp - again a matter of personal taste. My personal taste falls in the latter camp. :S3:

[Satish Ranadive]

Gorgeous colorful image.Love it.

Regards,
Satish.

[Linda Dulak]

I really like the complimentary colors in the image but find the softness of the wings not to my taste.

Linda

[Bob Miller]

Thanks everyone for the comments!

[Dave Johnson]

The mixed views on the DOF issue are quite interesting! I actually don't mind if the tail end is slightly OOF and quite like this one. I do think the colours are a little too strong though. Nice shot, TFS.

[Ken Childs]

Hey Bob,

I really love the great colors of the BG but I have to agree with those that think the overall colors are a bit over the top. I'm also in the camp that would like to see the entire 'fly in focus. Shallow DOF might work with another species but the problem with this one, IMHO, is that the back end of a Monarch has a strong pattern and with that area looking fuzzy, my eye keeps getting pulled to the upper left. It's almost like having distracting bright spots in the BG. As it is, I think a small slice off the left might help to balance it out.

I think this image has great potential for something in the OOTB forum. I can see all sorts of directions to take it. :S3: