White Admiral, Hildene, Robert Todd Lincoln's Estate, Vermont

[Bruce Miller]

I took this picture over the summer while in Vermont. I used a Canon 40D, 17-85, f10, 1/250, iso 400. Please let me know what you think of this photo and what I might do to make it any better.


http://redtail.smugmug.com/photos/990177023_hanJo-L.jpg

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Bruce,
Well.....you had an exposure nightmare on this one....the darks of the butterfly and the white of the flower are tough in even the best of conditions.....but mixed light is a killer. The only solution I can see is for you to have diffused this in the field.....just too much contrasting light. If you look where the flower is shaded......this brings the tonality to a mangable level....where you would have been able to open up the dark area of the BF a bit more but with that tonal combo .....always a difficult situation even if you used a flash. Best to avoid mixed light in these situations and go for either the very early or late natural light or overcast/shade the subject and BG and use a bit of fill flash. Just some things to keep in mind for in the field.

[Ken Childs]

Hi Bruce, Roman already covered the exposure problems and what could have been done in the field so I'll stick with the PP end of things. There's no way to get a great edit out of this but you can improve how it looks and it's always good to get in some practice. The crop was done to get rid of many of the distracting elements. I selected the wings and used Photoshop's shadow/highlights tool to lighten them up. Then I selected the outer parts of the wings, just past the white band, and sharpened them a small amount. Then I selected the entire butterfly and boosted the contrast a bit. I grabbed some of the darker green with the eyedropper and using a soft brush and an opacity of 20%, I painted over the bright areas on the BG. Please let me know what you think. :)

[Bruce Miller]

Thanks for the comments and sugestions. Sometimes we are just out and something worth shooting shows up.

Ken, I tried your suggestions in photoshop, but gave up have way through. Maybe I just need shown. Maybe some of these techniques are easier with new versions of Photoshop? Not sure. I did use the painting over hot areas with the brush. I likes that tip and even used it on some other photos I pp'd.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Bruce. You have some excellent comments and suggestions by Roman and Ken with which I would fully agree. You did a good job of getting a sharp image of the butterfly in a nice pose and I like what Ken has done in his repost to emphasize and improve that portion of the image. :) Keep them coming.

[Bruce Miller]

Roman, what do you mean by "diffuse this in the field"?

Thanks Steve!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Roman, what do you mean by "diffuse this in the field"?

Thanks Steve!

Hey Bruce,

Sorry for late reply.....most camera stores carry a combination reflector/ diffuser that you can use to shadw your subject. It is rather inexpensive for a collapsible 5 in one set (which I own) but your own shadow....a piece of sheer white bed sheet will also do the trick. Keeping the same tonality through the scene in macro is key......that is why we often do work indoor.....even with insects! Hope this explains it better and feel free to PM or e-mail me any questions you may have.

[Bruce Miller]

Hey Bruce,

Sorry for late reply.....most camera stores carry a combination reflector/ diffuser that you can use to shadw your subject. It is rather inexpensive for a collapsible 5 in one set (which I own) but your own shadow....a piece of sheer white bed sheet will also do the trick. Keeping the same tonality through the scene in macro is key......that is why we often do work indoor.....even with insects! Hope this explains it better and feel free to PM or e-mail me any questions you may have.


Roman,

This an excellent idea! We (my wife and I) had our photos done by a pro. We went to a local park. The Pro had an assistant that used a round "device" to either block the sun or reflect it on us. So I took this idea this past weekend when I was shooting leaves. I used a remote shutter release so I could shade the target and keep the light even over the whole frame.

Best!
Bruce