Meadow Argus

[Leo Berzins]

The Meadow Argus is a common Australian butterfly.

My first post in the Macro forum. Don't be gentle, I'm here to learn.

Canon 40D, 400/f5.6L + 25mm ext., 1/1600s, f5.6, ISO 400, monopod
small crop for composition, routine processing (levels, curves, USM)

[Joseph Martines]

IT is a nice capture.

Brown against brown is not your fault but, it doesn't enhance the image.

[Steve Maxson]

Very nice sharpness and exposure on the butterfly, Leo. I like the OOF flowers in the background and don't mind the brown tones. You might experiment with some different cropping options. This might make a nice vertical if you cropped from both sides to remove some of the "vacant " space on the left and much of the OOF flower stalk on the right. IMO, this would give you a stronger, cleaner image. :)

[José Rodríguez]

Yes, a vertical cropping, avoiding the flowers to the right, and I also should dark the background a bit. Sharpness is wonderful, and I really love the textures in the butterfly. Congrats Leo

[Ed Vatza]

I guess I'll be the contrarian here. The horizontal crop looks fine to me. And I think the brown butterfly still pops nicely against the background. The way oof flowers in the BG are fine. I just think the flowers on the right that are a little off should either be in focus or not be there at all.

[Julie Kenward]

Leo, welcome to the macro/flora forum! First, I like the brown on brown but would probably try to differentiate it a bit more between the brown in the BG and the brown on the butterfly. I'd probably select the BG and either lighten or darken it a bit.

As for the comp...it's close but I think you could have done better in the field and here's why I say that...you've got what appears to be a lot of room between the OOF stalk on the left and the OOF stalk on the right. If you had moved over a bit and maybe lowered the camera and angled it up I bet you could have captured this image with the OOF flowers on both sides of the butterfly and with them directly behind and off to the side. IMO, it would have made this a more balanced composition AND you would have had the added benefit of having all those soft, purple OOF flowers in the brown BG.

I do love the butterfly - you did an excellent job on getting him entirely in focus and he is nicely exposed. I'd consider cropping this down to just him and a little bit of BG since he is the part that really shines here.

[Leo Berzins]

Thankyou all for the comments and encouragement, especially Julie for the advice of trying harder to get it right in the field and the specific recommendations on what would have improved this image. Like all of the moderators on this site, you are doing a wonderful job.