Monarch on Goldenrod

[Mike Fuhr]

I was at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northern Oklahoma last week. There were TONS of monarchs moving through. I took this early one morning -- it was a bit windy. I really like the prairie bokeh in the background.

Minor crop with removal of one leaf, some minor sharpening.

D300
100-300mm F/4
F/5.6
300mm
1/1250
ISO 500

[Craig Thompson]

Hi Mike,

I like the color in the monarch and bg. I think the diagonal lines of the flower stem and the oof prairie grass following those lines, works.

I do think this image would benefit greatly from a much tighter crop, allowing the butterfly to dominate the frame. With a tighter composition you would lose some of the distracting elements in the background such as the oof (...twig or branch I'm guessing) curving thru the bottom third of the composition.

Without that distracting element, I think the image overall would work better with the background!

Craig

[Julie Kenward]

Mike I think you could go two ways with this - go really tight in on the Butterfly or else take some off the top and right side, putting the insect more in a ROT's position. Right now it feels too centered to me. You've got a lovely diagonal going with the curve of the flower stem - I'd let that flower and butterfly curve over to the right corner and really play that up.

[Harshad Barve]

another vote for tight crop , overall VWD
TFS

[Jerry van Dijk]

Wonderful detail and light on the butterfly! I get a bit distracted by the BG, so my vote would also be to crop the image. I would consider a vertical frame and look for that ROT position Julie suggested.
- Jerry -

[Steve Maxson]

I like the sharpness of the butterfly and the diagonal flow you've got going here, Mike. I too think a crop from the top and right - putting the butterfly in the ROT position - would make a stronger comp.

[Mike Fuhr]

Here it is with the new crop that puts the bfly in the UR...

[Julie Kenward]

I like it Mike! I see you cropped it to an 8x11 - I took an inch off the bottom to get an 8x10 and alleviated a little of the negative space at the bottom. I also chose a shade of green from the BG and used my paint brush at 50% opacity to lighten up and blend the darker areas of the BG so they were a little less distracting. I kept the brush at the same angle as the plants to give it all a natural feel. These are just a few ideas if you wanted to continue playing around with this image.

I cannot get over how striking this butterfly is in your image - it looks like velvet!

[Mike Fuhr]

I like what you did Jules -- you maintained the 'prairie' feel to the background but smoothed it out so it is less distracting. Thanks!

[Harshad Barve]

Repost(s) looks better
TFS

[Dave Leroy]

Very nice photo with lovely colours. I also like the reposts. Dave

[Anita Bower]

I, too, like the blurred grasses and the stand-out butterfly--it conveys the feeling of prairie and summer. The final image as posted by Jules is my favorite. I benefited from her description of how she improved the BG.