Monarch hatched

[Grahame Hamblin]

Used a better image made new background cut and paste Comments welcome on composition colour cut out etc in fact anything
Grahame

[Grahame Hamblin]

Posted wrong image legs are better in proper image

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Loved the colours here - very natural. Nice BG to go with.
Might sharpen the image a tad more. Wondering if providing a bit of room on top would help...?!

[Dave Leroy]

My first thought was a bit more sharpening as well.

Cut out and colours and bg all look very good.

I also wonder if a bit of cw rotation to b'fly would make a difference. Hard to say because the angles perch also looks good.

Dave

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Grahame. Please remember to include the shooting specs along with your post. :S3: The background is much better in this image compared with your previous posts. I would agree with Kaushik that a little more room at the top and some additional sharpening of the butterfly would strengthen the image. You are on the right track - keep them coming.

[Grahame Hamblin]

Thank you all for your help Have improved it with work on legs and a tad sharpening D300 f16 Macro 100mm Doing a cut and paste the orig background was awful i learnt a lot old eyes and a mouse don't help but will keep at it.
Grahame

[Ken Childs]

Hey Grahame, selecting something like this to paste on to a new BG or to blur the original BG takes a lot of practice and can be frustrating. I'm not a big fan of pasting on to a new BG but I do some serious BG blurring at times so I know this from personal experience. Some selecting tools are available which are supposed to make it a lot easier but I don't have any experience with those. I usually use Photoshop's quick selection tool and then fine tune with a hard brush and the eraser tool in quick mask. How did you do your selection? Keep a close eye on the edges because I see that you cut off the white from the back edges of the wings. That makes this fresh, pristine butterfly look a bit worn.

Keep at it. All it takes is practice, practice, practice! :S3:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Grahame,
Can't add much to the excellent advice given above but will add one thing. Go out and take a picture of a real bg......some nice greenery.....beautiful cloudy sky......anything will do. Work on that and make it pleasingly blurred with no hot spots......print it on 13x19 paper of similar......just make sure it is a matte print......mount on a sturdier board and viola!......instant BG wherever and whenever you need! Flash will cast a shadow on it so it must be off hotshoe.....but with some practice easier than replacing the bG! Hope this gives you some ideas!

[Grahame Hamblin]

Action time have taken all on board. Went fishing today we had our limit in 2 hours 9 each (18) water calm sun shineing took camera did not use too busy Fabulous feed tonight.
Love all Grahame

[kostas nianiopoulos]

lovley colours here , and the BG is just great for my taste well done Grahame !!!