Gulf Fritillary

[Keith Kennedy]

The image of this Gulf Fritillary was made in Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (ca. 60 miles east of Houston, TX) in late August, 2007. I did not get many chances at the butterflies because of the voracious mosquitoes and the lack of a good repellent. I cropped the left side of the image to achieve a square format and applied a slight gaussian blur to the background.

Canon 70-200mm f/4 L at 200mm + 1.4X TC and EOS 30D; ISO 250; AV/Evaluative metering =+2/3; 1/500s at f8; handheld.

[Fabs Forns]

The dreaminess of the background makes this one special for me, Keith :)

[John Cooper]

Hi Keith, Yes I also find a special quality about the BG and it really enhances the composition. The perspective that you chose to photograph this attractive butterfly also is very pleasing to look at - overall a very nice image and a good job on the post processing as well!!

[Mike Moats]

Hey Keith, the usual look on the BG would be to have a solid soft color, but as others stated this seems to work well with the subject. Nice details on the critter.

[Robert O'Toole]

I like it and the OOF BG effect are great, much more interesting than a solid color I think.

One fine point would be to selectively darkend the tops of the wings to gain some density, I think is 100% accurate the way it is but more density would make the B-Fly really pop.

Robert

[Keith Kennedy]

Robert--per your suggestion--a good idea! Thanks.

Keith

[Vincent Grafhorst]

A lovely image Keith with a different kind of perspective, well done.