B.O.F.

[Jerry van Dijk]

... , bug-on-flower, that is. Best of both worlds! Another one from last summer (still not through PP). This Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) was foraging on the flowers in the herb garden of an estate near my hometown. She was so busy that she let me come very close and I managed to get some nice shots.

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, handheld, 83 mm (500 mm eq.), ISO-100, F/4.2, 1/500 sec, EC 0, pattern metering, aperture priority, RAW.
RAW processing in Silkypix, PP in Corel Photopaint. Minor tweaks on levels and sharpness. Cropped for composition.

[Ken Childs]

Very nice, Jerry!
Great DOF and exposure on the 'fly. If this were mine, I'd try to clone away the green stem on the left.

[Charissa]

Ditto the green stem. Great shot Jerry, nice detail on the BF and the flower.

[Tim Munsey]

Impressive panasonic shot, i agree with the stem and would add a little tinkering to remove the straight line on the right.
Nice one

Tim

[OvidiuCavasdan]

I like the composition and colors, nice pose and details. Agree about the green stem and maybe also some work on the right edge of the frame.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jerry, excellent details on the subject and agree on the stem. Really like the soft colorful BG.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Excellent shot, I agree with previous comments - just a minor tweek or two will make this shot outstanding.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very appealing image. Great subject on beautiful flowers! I too agree about the stem at left, and for tweaking the right edge's pale OOF stem. I would also run NR to the BG. As the antannae are always in motion, do you have another frame where they are better separated from each other?

[Adrian David]

Superb details on the butterfly and the flowers.The perch (flowers) are gorgeous...Agree about the green stem...

[Julie Kenward]

Jerry, I agree with the other's comments about the stem and the right side of the frame. This is really a beautiful image - nice DOF and good details where they need to be. I think this might have been even stronger if the flowers on the left side of the frame were either more "in" or more "out" - something to think about next time. Lovely BG - you really made the most of this opportunity!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi all, thanks for looking! I'm refraining a bit from all the cloning. Usually I end up with a blur in the shape of the object I was cloning out, which looks as disturbing as the original object. I'm considering to make a vertical crop. It would get rid of the green stem and the OOF flowers on the left.

[Ken Childs]

I'm refraining a bit from all the cloning. Usually I end up with a blur in the shape of the object I was cloning out, which looks as disturbing as the original object.
Give it a shot when you get Photoshop. I think you'll be surprised as just how easy it can be. :)

[Anita Bower]

Fantastic details on this butterly! Nothing to add to above suggestions.