Cloudless Sulphur on Lantana

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS @ 105mm
Av mode
1/100"
F16
ISO:200
LR & CS3
HH

I know, the BG sucks but I couldn't pass up this pose. Considering the lens, I probably could have gone with a smaller aperture and still had enough DOF for the flower but I was concentrating on some different flowers with a lovely, distant green grass BG when this stupid butterfly decided to strike this pose on another part of the plant. One quick shot and it was gone.

BG has been blurred a bunch. A leaf was cloned out from the bottom left.

[Jay Sheinfield]

HI Ken,

Cool image......all the hues work well together imo. Great detail on the BF. You may consider brightening the dark areas in the right side of the BG and present a more uniform lightness. Unless its my screen, the FG flower and maybe the BF looks like it could use a bit of contrast (curves).

Cheers, Jay

[Jonathan Ashton]

Nice colours and composition, I agree a shot that could not have been passed by.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Ken,

I liked the comp and colors so much, I gave the BG a try with Nikon Capture NX2, which does well with these kind of things...............I hope you don't mind. Maybe, you didn't want to put this much work in it :)

Basically light balancing and reverse tonal contrast...........


Jay

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Ken. Everything in the foreground of this image is outstanding, but, as you note, the background is really distracting. I think Jay's repost is a major improvement and you may want to give something like that a try. :)

[ChasMcRae]

Ah the Sulfurs are everywhere now in the South.
Nice parallel positioning and flower and background a little weak but not that bad.
I have been too lazy to chase them this year, but we in the south should be given some slack for our somnolence especially this summer.

[Allen Sparks]

I could not pass up this shot either...very nice except for BG - love the pose and tones. I also like Jay's repost.

[Ken Childs]

Inspired by Jay's repost, I decided I'd better figure out how to do a better job on blurring BG's. I looked over various online tutorials, tried a couple and then rearranged/modified the steps to make it work the way I wanted it to. This is a relatively quick job done on the smaller, resized file and is kind of blotchy but at least I know I can do it now. :) I would spend a lot more time working on it if I were planning on printing or showing it.

Thanks, Jay!

[Jerry van Dijk]

I love the details you captured on the butterfly here and the awesome pose. I think the blurry BG is a major improvement. The flowers on the right look a bit off. Not sure what it is, they seem soft and a little washed out. Reminds me of some off my own images in which I added too much fill light. Jay's suggestion of adding contrast may solve the problem.

[Ken Childs]

The flowers on the right look a bit off. Not sure what it is, they seem soft and a little washed out. Reminds me of some off my own images in which I added too much fill light. Jay's suggestion of adding contrast may solve the problem.
I knew I was forgetting something!
An easy fix...I won't bother with another repost.

[Jay Sheinfield]

nice work on the BG, Ken. Just simply pops it!


Jay

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ken,
Late to the party!.......tough one to pass up because of the pristine condition of the sulpher.......so the rework was well worth it and the last tweak will just make this shine! Great job all commenters above in taking this one to a new level!

[Anita Bower]

It is hard to believe there was a butterfly in your garden that didn't cooperate with you. ;) I thought you had them all trained. Good job working on the BG. Sometimes all we need is a little nudge.