Backlit Question Mark Butterfly

[Ken Childs]

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p193/kjchilds/BPN/IMG_2788.jpg
Canon EOS REBEL XT
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS @ 400mm
Av mode
1/250"
F5.6
ISO: 200
Photoshop CS3

I kept this one dark because I'm not trying to highlight the species. I want the backlit wings to be the focus of this image.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Ken, The first thing I was going to say is you needed a little fill light, but then read your post and saw you intended it this way, so I would say you acomplished what you set out to do. Good details and BG. Like the position.

[Julie Kenward]

Ken, although I certainly understand your thinking (and thank you for sharing it so we know what your intent was - it makes it so much easier to critique when we understand these things!)I wonder if a light shadow/highlight adjustment would really be a bad thing? You mentioned you wanted to hightlight this species...highlight as in the quality of the light or highlight as in you want this species to be shown off for it's inticate beauty? If it's the first option, then I agree - you nailed it. If it's the second, then I think a slight lightening of the underside might be nice so we can see more of the insect without blowing the nice backlighting you have going here. Does that make sense?

[Ken Childs]

Ken, although I certainly understand your thinking (and thank you for sharing it so we know what your intent was - it makes it so much easier to critique when we understand these things!)I wonder if a light shadow/highlight adjustment would really be a bad thing? You mentioned you wanted to hightlight this species...highlight as in the quality of the light or highlight as in you want this species to be shown off for it's inticate beauty? If it's the first option, then I agree - you nailed it. If it's the second, then I think a slight lightening of the underside might be nice so we can see more of the insect without blowing the nice backlighting you have going here. Does that make sense?
It's mainly done for the nice light. The old fence post was partially in the shade of a privet bush and just enough light was getting through to create what's seen here. This is very close to what I actually saw when taking the shot.

IMHO, lightening it up wouldn't be bad at all. It would just be different. :)

[Ken Childs]

I should add that how I edit sometimes depends on my intended audience. For example, if I plan on showing it to the butterfly community or submitting it to butterfliesandmoths.org, I'll try to make it so you can see as many details of the bfly as possible. If I'm going to show it to someone like my mother who really couldn't care less about bugs, I just want it to be pretty. :)

[Julie Kenward]

That makes perfect sense, Ken! Thanks for the additional explanation.

[Allen Sparks]

nicely presented and you definitely achieved the affect you wanted. I find this species difficult to approach so nice capture too.

[Vida van der Walt]

Ken, I really like this. This is very artistic and I love the play with shadow and light. I tend to always want to show of all the little detail in the insects and forgetting that a great image is not just about detail but so much more.:)

[Morkel Erasmus]

ditto Vida. this is very effective and aesthetically pleasing Ken!