Common blue

[Jonathan Ashton]

Monopod Canon 7D Canon 180mm macro ISO 400 1/400 sec f11
Here I have attempted to illustrate the butterfly in it's habitat. I desaturated the yellows in the wings and the reds in the knapweed flower head (-8) in Photoshop.
All C&C welcome

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jon. The butterfly and the purple portion of the flower look perfect! I also like the comp and background. The brown base of the flower looks a little odd - was there an OOF stem in front of that portion of the flower? I like the inclusion of habitat here - though I would wish that the one grass seed head wasn't clipped by the bottom of the frame - minor quibbles. This is very nicely done!

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Jonathan, nice sharpness throughout the butterfly and I like the "habitat" look. The lower portion of the perch looks odd to me too. Did you do some post processing there? -- Allen

[Jonathan Ashton]

Steve Allen, I knew you would pick up on the brown sepal casing:w3 - you are both right. The original raw file shows some blurring probably another sepal casing is out of focus and in front of it, and yes I did try a little patching which didn't work, then some cloning which didn't improve yet didn't make it any worse that it was! there was nothing left in the image for me to copy/clone onto the area to improve it so I had to make do.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jon, love the overall setting here, and you seem to be nailing these butterfly shots. Good DOF on flower and subject, and I really like the detail and colours on the butterfly. I do like the hint of the OOF grasses in the BG.

Thanks Stu, glad you liked it, to make the OOF grasses more OOF I brushed over them lightly with a brush set to 15% or so

[Jason Stander]

Hi Jonathan... stunning image... detail and your sat's are spot on... I do enjoy the grass details here and there... the bg compliments the subject very well... WD:w3