Monarch

[Anita Bower]

I am new to butterfly photography. I was by my flower garden marveling at the 5 different kinds of butterflies flitting from flower to flower, and couldn't resist trying to take some photos.

Nikon D300, 105mm macro, handheld, f 5, 1/320, ISO 125, natural light. Large crop.

Comments and suggestions welcome.

[Steve Maxson]

Hmmm - looks like you have a new calling, Anita! :S3: You captured an excellent specimen giving you a nice pose in good light. You have good overall sharpness and I like the comp. The curved stem is a nice plus. I think I would prefer the image without the bright orange flower behind the stem and the smaller one on the right. Although it's natural, if this was mine, I'd be tempted to clone the one leg sticking out into the air. This is very well done - keep the insect pictures coming!

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Anita, nice butterfly image and I agree with Steve's comments above. Nice pose you captured. It's a nit but the flower and stem seem a tad sharper to me than the butterfly - wonder if the butterfly was moving slightly when you took this or maybe it is just the large crop as you mentioned. Overall a very nice image. -- Allen

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Anita - you are on the right track that is for sure. I would offer a couple of suggestions:
If you have the appropriate software check out where your focal point was (in Canon DPP there is an option to display focal points I am second guessing there may a be a similar facility in Nikon??).
Parts of the flower and parts of the butterfly are sharp but others are a little soft (the forewing) - this could be for one or two of two reasons: the focal point was not on the butterfly and the aperture was a tad wide, I would suggest f8 I appreciate you probably wanted to ensure the background was well out of focus.
The next thing is the background which while nicely out of focus contains a couple of eye catching OOF flower heads directly behind the flower stem.
Otherwise I like the composition and the colours/exposure.

[Norm Dulak]

Very nice, Anita. I think Steve has offered some good suggestions to consider but like this image very much as you have presented it. It looks as though you are becoming hooked on insect photography and are becoming very good at it!

[Anita Bower]

Thank you all for your helpful comments. When I went to my flower garden with camera, I had not intended to photograph butterflies But, there they were in abundance and they delighted me. All the suggestions are good ones. I've removed the bright blob flowers and the leg. I'll sharpen the front wing a bit. I was amazed to get this image. I was using auto focus. I don't know how to find out where my focal point was. What is DPP? I realize that I need to find butterflies that are perched on flowers at the edge of a garden, so the bg can be blurred at f8. Again, thank you all!

[Jason Stander]

Hi Anita, this is so beautiful... exp'ed detail and comp is spot on... agree with Steve on the bottom flower... lovely bg... WD!:w3

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Nice overall image and a very good start with butterfly photography Anita. Good suggestions above. Finding bf perched on flowers at th edge of the garden will give you the smooth bg you're looking for, but also keep in mind to try shooting bf with lots of flowers in the BG, still far enough that the BG will turn out as (mixed) colored oof areas. Keep shooting a lot and you will get excellent results. Waiting too see more bf images.

[Anita Bower]

Thank you, Ovidiu and Jason for your encouragement. :-)

[Arthur Morris]

A great first attempt. Changing your perspective just slightly to re-position the orangey blobs so that they did not merge with the stem might have been a good option as the color of the blobs goes well with the subject.

What is the maximum aperture of the lens?

[Anita Bower]

A great first attempt. Changing your perspective just slightly to re-position the orangey blobs so that they did not merge with the stem might have been a good option as the color of the blobs goes well with the subject.

What is the maximum aperture of the lens?
Good point about moving a bit. Actually, I was just thrilled to get a fairly clear photo of a butterfly. :-) Max. aperture of my Sigma 105mm macro is 2.8. Thanks for commenting.

[Arthur Morris]

You are most welcome Anita. While many advise smaller apertures for images like this working wide open or close to it when you can perfectly parallel a flat subject can sweeten the BKGR :).