Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

[Marina Scarr]

Recently spent some time photographing at a native butterfly aviary. What a treat it was. I wasn't particularly happy with my pictures from my first visit, so I returned for another try and was more pleased. This macro stuff is not easy but I am having a lot of fun. This was framed in camera and is full frame. It's pretty much right out of the camera besides a minor curves adjustment and some sharpening. I was originally photographing this butterfly with manual flash at 1/16 power but decided I liked the subtle green background better with natural light only.

Canon 1D4, Canon 70-200L F4 IS with extension tubes
F11, 1/100sec, ISO 640, manual mode
Handheld, no flash, kneeling on the ground

C & C are always welcomed and much appreciated.

Marina Scarr
Florida Master Naturalist
www.marinascarrphotography.com


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(http://www.marinascarrphotography.com)

[PhilCook]

Lovely composition, sits well in the frame, and liking the powder blue of the Plumbago flower, I wonder if maybe the yello0w is a tad bright as it seems to of lost a little detail, but certainly stands out boldly against the backdrop

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Marina I am so glad to see you exploring the awesome world of macro and i think you are doing really well. I think you will find it challenging and a total different feel from the avian but very rewarding when you nail the shots. It's a whole new adventure there in the macro land and I am looking forward to sharing the journey with you.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Marina, I like the overall composition and the OOF leaf doesn't bother me too much, the central OOF blossom does a little.. I think you had a tricky shot here because the butterfly is not quite in the plane that it appears to be at first glance.
As mentioned previously I think the yellows are a tad over saturated and unless there is a very good reason not to I would suggest you start using a tripod. It will slow you down slightly but your focusing will become more accurate and I suspect you will get the plane of focus more accurately aligned. i think 1/100 sec with the lens and that magnification you are on the boundary of producing really sharp images. The tripod is initially a pain in the proverbial but I am sure you will value it as much as you do in the Avian Forum.
For convenience I use the Gimbal head for macro work and I think it is great (I use a Mongoose 3.5 for 100-400mm, 500mm and 180mm macro and I have an Arca type plate on each lens so I only need one tripod and one head - everything is readily interchangable.
Hope this helps.

[Ken Childs]

Marina, the comp on this looks great and the focus on the 'fly is spot on! If this were mine, I'd remove the leaf from the right side and would try some selective sharpening on that central bloom. You won't be able to sharpen it enough to make it look perfect but just a little should keep it from pulling the eye away from the 'fly. The color of the 'fly looks off for the species. This looks just a bit too orange so you might try pulling down the reds and see how that looks.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image.I like placement of butterfly.Very nice composition and lovely colors.

Regards,
Satish.

[Jon Rista]

Beautiful macro. That is one vibrant butterfly! I think the composition is excellent. Color contrast is superb (the bright, almost orange yellow vs. the blue flowers). I too like the deep green background. The butterfly seems just a touch too saturated relative to the rest of the shot, but if that is how it was in real life, then I wouldn't change anything. The only thing I would change if the shot could have been retaken was the focus on that one blue flower, but that is a minor thing.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Marina. This is very impressive for hh at 1/100! Excellent sharpness within your DOF, you have a beautiful mix of colors, a nice background, great comp - and the yellow border adds a nice touch. The softness of some of the flowers is not really bothering me - though you might try Ken's suggestion of some selective sharpening. You have a number of good suggestions above to consider to tweak this fine image. Very nicely done!

[Marina Scarr]

Thank you to all of your for your insightful input. Based upon your advice, here is my repost. While I try to stay in the habit of not removing/altering elements of my images, I did remove the green leaf. I did notice that it was distracting but opted against touching it. Please advise whether you feel this is an improvement.

Thank you.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Marina this is lovely almost pastel like, good work!!