Monarch on Buttonbush

[Mike Fuhr]

I took this one a few weeks ago -- the lighting was tough, making the buttonbush flower whites really hot. Anyway, this was one of my favs from that hike through the park near my office one morning.

I made a few adjustments to tone down the flower and sharpen the wing tips, and made a 25% crop or so.

Nikon D300
100-300 F/4
F/6.3 (-.67)
1/320
ISO 400
on tripod

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Mike,
Considering you had mixed light....not too shabby!!! Using a flash in this case as main light may have worked in your favor.....but all in all you tamed it very nicely. I do think you can selectively lighten the BF.....and I would definitely go for removal of the OOF blob in the LRC.....the shape along with the brightness....draws the eye away from the BF. You may want to smooth out the upper part of the frame too.....but all minopr tweaks to a very nicely composed image!

[Desmond Chan]

I made a few adjustments to tone down the flower and sharpen the wing tips, and made a 25% crop or so.

Seems to me you did intend the butterfly to be brighter, so I ran it through Topaz Adjust and a little bit of Topaz Details and got the attached image. More can still be done to this image if needed.

In case you didn't know, Topaz Adjust can give your image a pseudo-HDR look and so sometimes I like to use it instead of the Shadows & Highlights for opening up those darker areas.

[Jay Gould]

Great work Des, and thanks for the Topaz tips.

[Myer Bornstein]

LIKE THE REPOST and thanks also for the Topaz Tips

[Ken Childs]

Mike, a good shot and I like Desmond's repost but that blob in the LRC has to go. :)

[Mike Fuhr]

Thanks for all the comments and reposts. Yeah, that blob is a bit distracting. I will play around w/the original image a bit more. Thanks :)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice composition, I was going to say the original butterfly wasnot quite in focus but the repost looks better, maybe a little selective sharpening on the butterfly would help.

[Anita Bower]

I like seeing the butterfly on a Button Bush flower--a native plant, and I'm delighted knowing that you found this in a park near your work. The composition is strong. You received some good advice which will make this a pleasing image.

[Mike Fuhr]

Thanks Anita. I'm a big fan of natives too!!!