The Butterfly and the Turtle

[Nate Chappell]

Hi everyone,
It's been a while since I've posted in this forum. Here's an image that I made during our recent trip to Sani Lodge in Eastern Ecuador. This is close to full frame, the lighting was very contrasty and harsh, I did what I could with the shadow/highlight tool to recover details. We were standing in the lounge when I noticed this butterfly on a turtle's head down on the water's edge. I scrambled down the bank at first the butterfly flew away but it quickly returned to the turtle's head and I managed to make a few images. Thanks for looking, comments and suggestions welcomed.
Nate

Canon MkIII 500F4 1.4X 1/640 F7.1 iso 640, evaluative metering -0.3 Handheld

[Jeff Parker]

The little bit of backlighting really make the butterfly wings light up. I like it.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Nate This brought a big smile !!! Love it !!

Mighty fine from all aspects, excellent shadow, sharp and love how the butterfly stands out !!! Big Congrats !!!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Great image, the BF really stands out. You did a good job of trying to bring out some details in the darks, however the contrast of dark and light I find really makes the BF stand out.

[Ken Watkins]

A perfect example of capturing "the moment" , colours in the butterfly are magical.
I might be tempted to try a closer crop.

[Marc Mol]

The equivalent of a rainbow on a dull day, great comp with the light very well handled, well done Nate.
TFS

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Fantastic. The butterfly has come out well. The eye of the turtle is also open. I am happy that you rushed and waited for the butterfly to come back. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[D. Robert Franz]

Great interaction.. Love it!

[Austin Thomas]

That is a special moment well recorded.

Nicely done Nate.

tfs

Austin

[DanielTMiller]

Wow, beautiful image, love the composition and the exposure of the butterfly is spot on.

[Vida van der Walt]

What a wonderful moment and image! Love the detail and colours of the little BF and it couldn't have perched on a better spot.:)

[Harshad Barve]

OMG , dont know how I missed it , Excellent image and winner all the way
TFS

[Declan Troy]

Great capture. There is a blurry pale spot along the right hand margin (level with the BF) that looks a bit funky but overall well worth bolting out of the lounge for.

[Steve Canuel]

Good eye Nate to see and capture this image. The lit up butterfly really adds some life to this and is a nice counter to the subdued tones.