Dew laced butterfly

[Ramesh Adkoli]

Here is a dew covered butterfly captured an early morning last week at a lake near Bangalore. This is the first time i have tried taking such an image. Appreciate your views and comments.

D700, 105mm Micro VR, 1/15s, f/13, ISO 400, SB900 Flash off camera, tripod mount, early morning
PP in capture nx2, slight levels and curves, cropped a bit from top and right.

regards,
ramesh

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Ramesh, good job, especially for a first try. I've always wanted to make an image like this, but usually I'm too lazy to get up early enough for the dew. Few points of critique: I would have liked to see some more DOF, my eye is wandering a bit too much between OOF and IF branches and butterfly parts. Instead of cropping, I might consider rotating the image CCW a bit, to place the butterfly a little more symmetrically in the UR corner. This may also make a better diagonal of the perch, which is cut off a bit too much IMO.
I like the detail you captured on the butterfly and I also like the color combination of subject, perch and BG. Nicely done!

[Julie Kenward]

I, too, have always wanted to get an image like this but haven't yet been successful. I like that we can see so much of the dew on the butterfly but I'm not sure I love that it's at the cost of the face. If you had been at the same angle but facing forwards you still would have captured the dew and got a nice portrait of the lovely creature at the same time.

I'm rather surprised you didn't get more DOF using a 105mm and f13...I would have thought that combination would have captured more DOF on those surrounding branches. Still, it's a very nice image especially for a first attempt.

[Anita Bower]

The dew on the wings is unusual and lovely. I see what Jules means about not seeing the face. I like the branches and the BG.

[Ramesh Adkoli]

Thanks, Jerry, Julie and Anita for your comments. I really appreciate that. Jerry, Julie, it is a very tiny butterfly and I captured it at 1:1 magnification. At that magnification, the DOF is next to nothing. My effort was to keep the wing and dew drops in focus and i had to give up on the rest. Jerry, your suggestion of rotating the image is interesting and will give it a try. Julie, your suggestion to keep the face in focus is very valid and will keep it in mind on my next field visit.

This is winter here (very mild at that) and misty mornings give us such opportunities. I want to use it while it lasts;-)

Regards,
ramesh

[Christopher Miller]

Very nice image, Ramesh. Like Jerry and Jules, I've always wanted to make an image like this but have never been successful. I like the clean BG and the sharp details of the dewdrops. Totally agree with points made by Jerry and Jules.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Ramesh, I like the comp, good details and BG.

[Ramesh Adkoli]

Thanks, Chris and Mike.