Eastern Tailed-blue

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Av mode
1/6"
F16
ISO 200
Tripod
ACR & CS5


A very common butterfly in these parts, it's still one of my favorites.
I happened across it on a cool morning so it stayed put long enough for a few shots.


Cropped, SH, contrast, smart and high-pass sharpening. Cloned away a small leaf in the UL and a few filaments that were crossing paths with the antennal clubs. I made an attempt to remove the leaf in the LLC but the results were less than stellar so I left it there. I thought about toning down the area just below the antennal clubs but I like how it looks so I left it alone.


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[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image.Very nice composition,Beautiful colors and nice background.

Regards,
Satish.

[Jon Rista]

Nice shot. The background is nice, helps isolate the subject. I like the cool tone of the image, definitely speaks to the photo being taken in the morning.

It looks as though the crop is fairly considerable, and fine detail is about pixel-size (rather than super-pixel size, which would have been a little bit better). I think you would have experienced better results if you had filled the frame more with the butterfly. The slightly over-sharp detail on the perch would have softened a bit, standing out less. The subject would have taken on a slightly softer, but still sharp feel as well, which I think would have done it more justice. I think the background would have turned out better with a closer framing, too, as there is a bit of posterization in the de-noised version here.

You might try selectively sharpening the butterfly, and leave the perch (the branch and leaves) unsharpened. It being so sharp kind of detracts from the key subject. You might try removing just a little less noise from the background to eliminate the posterization that is starting to show up.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Ken. Very cool rim lighting on this colorful butterfly - and you got both antennas sharp. :S3: Also nice comp and a clean background. It must have been very calm that morning to get this much detail at a ss of 1/6! I'm wondering if you can get a little more sharpness in the wings? Overall, this is very nicely done!

[Marina Scarr]

The fact that you got the antennae sharp, makes this image work. You have a nice clean BG. The back-lighting effect worked nicely hear and I like all the fuzz on the plant as well.

[Jonathan Ashton]

A fine image, lovely subject I sense that a lot of sharpening has been applied to the antennae, I can see a slight halo around them. I am slightly ill at ease with the wing detail, I think it is possibly because the butterfly was not perpendicular to the camera back, I say this because the wing tips on the right and the antennae on the left appear to have more detail than the inner parts of the wings.

[Bob Miller]

Hi ken...Wonderful image with beautiful colors and clarity.....I do agree that you might want to not have the perch not as sharp as your subject!

[Ken Childs]

Thanks everyone for your comments! :S3:

Jon, I didn't apply any extra sharpening to the antennae so any halo you might be seeing is probably because this 'fly was backlit. Also, it was perfectly perpendicular to the camera back.....the center of the wings might appear slightly OOF but that's just the way this species is....the pattern is not naturally sharp. I suppose I could sharpen the wings a bit more which might make this more appealing to a general audience but in the name of keeping a natural look, I'll probably keep it the way it is.

[PRABIR BHATTACHARYYA]

Hi Ken! Very nice composition. Colors are looking so beautiful.
Thanks for sharing.