Orange Barred Sulphur

[Diane Chenault]

D300 Sigma 180 lens F10 1/25 flash ff tripod

Taken at Lukas nursery in Oviedo, FL

[John Cooper]

A nice capture of this bright yellow butterfly Diane. Allowing more space at the bottom (and less at the top) would have included more of the blue flower which is so striking against the yellow.

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

I agree with John, a superb photo but the fantastic contrast between the two colours calls for more blue in the image.

[Matthew Pugh]

Hi
This is certainly a nice capture of an attractive butterfly. And although I would agree with the compositional suggestion regarding subject placement already made, this is minor. Amd my main suggestions would relate more to bringing out the details in the shot taken.
Firstly this image looks soft as presented to my eyes at least. Now even though you have not paralleled this butterfly perfectly for maximum DOF usage, at F10, and this image size, the subject should certainly look sharp enough in most areas. So either you have camera shake from handholding at 1/25, or more likely judging by the presented shot you have not applied enough USM to the image at the intended resolution.
Secondly I think I would try a little less of a saturated look, and perhaps also try a slight “S” curve, or darkening of the midtones values. I think this combination of post processing would help to make the subject pop, just a little bit more, while also bring out the details that I think are inherently captured in this image
Now that’s a whole bunch of suggestions that I hope you try, just to see the difference if for no other reason.
And lastly thanks for brightening up a dreary grey English day, with this lovely sunny looking shot
All the best
Matthew

[Diane Chenault]

Hi Matthew,

Thank you for your suggestions. I sharpened it again, desaturated it, & tried an S curve. Maybe I just need to go try the shot again. I was on a tripod, so hopefully no camera shake. It looks sharp on my screen, but not as sharp posted.

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Looks very sharp on my screen as well.

The second shot is a marginal improvement on the first which was a superb capture in itself.

I love it.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Diane, a beautiful color combination, I would agree with early comments about being a little higher in the fram and maybe even a slight tilt on the butterfly.

[Matthew Pugh]

Hi Diane
I have taken the liberty of trying to process this one from your original posting - not the best approach for showing a good example because of the degradation inherent in such an approach
Hopefully you do not mind me doing this, and I will delete all records of this from my PC on Sunday


http://uk.geocities.com/m.pugh44@btinternet.com/images/NOTMINE.jpg

Hopefully this show up - and gives an example of what I mean. I am a bit confused by everyone else who seems to think this is sharp as seen originally - so perhaps this is just me?
Anyway I hope this helps you out, and that you don’t mind me playing with your shot
Matthew

[Diane Chenault]

Hi Matthew,

Your version looks the best. I appreciate you taking the time to do whatever you did. It looks much sharper & really pops.
Thank you,
Diane

[Matthew Pugh]

Hi Diane
You are more than welcome
I hope this started to show what details were present in the original shot, and how much processing can effect the final look
Anyway I will delete this from my files now
All the best
Matthew