Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)

[Julie Brown]

Another image from the SFSU butterfly workshop in the Sierra Nevada, late June, 2008.
I chased the butterfly in a meadow and then crawled under a bush to get this shot.

Canon 20D, 300mm f4L IS, ISO 800, 1/250, f5.6 0EV, pattern metering, manual exp, HH

PP: LR 2.6
small crop
Exposure: set black and white points, recovered highlights, applied fill
tweaked the tone curve: brought the lights down, bumped up the darks
used ND grad to darken exposure in top left corner
adjustment brush: selective sharpening and lightening of butterfly wings; darkened left side of branch and ant abdomen; brought whites down on outside edge of butterfly wing
sharpening and NR
post-crop vignette

[Vida van der Walt]

Julie, it is wonderful how well this butterfly is camouflaged to look like the branch. Great angle to get all of the wing in focus and it almost looks 3D. I love how both it and the ant are tasting that little white thingie. Great shot!:)

[Julie Brown]

Thanks Vida. I didn't notice the ant until I viewed the image in PP.:D

[Ken Childs]

Julie, this is a nice capture of a very difficult subject. For those that don't know, these things are much more wary than most species of butterfly. I see them every year but I've only managed to get an acceptable shot of one.

The comp on this one looks great and the focus is spot on. It looks a little crowded so you might try adding a bit more canvas on the right side or maybe backing out a bit if you have the canvas.

[Julie Brown]

Ken, I do know how hard it is to get a good shot of the Mourning Cloak. That is why I had to crawl under the bush!:D As you can see, the butterfly is occupied with its tasty treat, which gave me time to squeeze off a few shots. This is almost full frame. I did not have any more room to the left or right, just cropped a bit from the top and bottom. I suppose I could experiment with adding canvas to the right??? I will repost if I can figure it out. Thanks for the comment!

[Allen Sparks]

wonderful shot Julie. Love the underwing you caught which looks so much like bark. Agree it is a difficult subject to catch - they fly past me in the woods with no intent of stopping for a shot. Agree that it could use a little bit of space on the right -- I'd give you my sure-fire tips on how to add canvas to a photo but I don't know how to do it either!

[Ken Childs]

I'd give you my sure-fire tips on how to add canvas to a photo but I don't know how to do it either! It's probably close or the same as it is in Photoshop. Go to Image/Canvas Size.

[Peter Farrell]

Super image of a really cool Bf. Nice detail, BG and perch. Agree about adding canvas on right

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Julie, wonderful find! I find it interesting that this species English name translates litterally into its Dutch name. Nothing really to add to the comments already given. Your use of DOF indeed creates a 3D feeling, but I think it adds to the feeling of crowdedness noted by Ken, because of all of the planes at different angles. The BG is also a bit busy, but I think you did a very good job given the fact that you were under a bush!!

[Julie Brown]

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful comments. I re-cropped the image in lightroom then added canvas in Elements. Here is the repost.

[Julie Kenward]

Julie, the repost with the additional canvas makes a ton of difference. I would suggest looking at cloning out the OOF branch that is coming out the top of the butterfly's head now. ;) Try setting your clone brush to 30-40% opacity and swirling some of the green color over that area...see if that doesn't calm down that OOF area a bit more.

[Julie Brown]

Hey Jules, here is the re-post per your suggestions. I find your critiques to be especially helpful. Thanks!:)

[Julie Brown]

forgot to attach the image

[Julie Kenward]

There you go! ;) No more "extra antenna"!

[Anita Bower]

The first thing I thought of when seeing this image is how the butterfly looks like tree bark, which, I suppose, is the whole idea.

Wonderful details captured here!

Good work on the repost. I like the improvements you made. If I might suggest one more--darkening the yellow spot on the upper part of the trunk. It is a bit distracting.

Wonderful image and work. :)

[Julie Brown]

Thanks Anita. I will make that adjustment.:)

[Bob Allen]

Nice! I especially like the natural history aspect. Both the ant and the b'fly are feeding on sugars excreted by the white scale insect (the white fuzzy thingie on the stem). Eyes & antennae are sharp. The first angle just below ("above" in this shot) the tip of the forewing is a tad soft on my monitor, but am I just seeing things? Funny, they are not so wary here in California. I've had them land on my head while in the field!

[Julie Brown]

Hi Bob,

thanks for sharing that information about the scale insect excrement. I like to know as much as I can about the animal's behavior that I'm photographing. That's interesting that one landed on your head!:cool: I shot this in the Sierra Nevada-Paul Opler was the leader for the week-long field seminar-it was fun.

I'll go back to the image and do some more sharpening.:)