Orange Julia (Dryas iulia)

[Brendan Dozier]

Another from the butterfly exhibit - love the spotted eyes on these guys. ACR, PP, Topaz for detail, NR and some saturation boost. BG was distracting, so used combination of blurring and cloning, and converted it to B&W for more contrast and something different. Dodging and vignette to FG leaf.

7D, EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM, tripod
1/10
f18
ISO 800

C & C welcome & appreciated,

- Brendan

[bhavya joshi]

I like B/W BG.. Looks different..nice colour, details..and Eye also.. nice composition.. Why don't you take full antinna ?? have you crop it..?? :S3:

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks very much, Joshi. Yes, I did a tight crop but didn't want the eye to be in the middle of the frame so chose to include the legs and clip the antenna. Do you think it looks bad?

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Brendan, very cool looking butterfly. I like the vibrant colors and details. I also like how you managed to get the whole hind leg in focus. I am a bit distracted by the uneven lighting (with the face and front of the leaf in shadows). A slightly different angle, flash or reflector may have helped. I like the effect of the BW background very much! Makes the colors come out even better. How did you manage to select the BG between the fine hairs on the face? I'm always struggling with the quick selection tool...:e3

[bhavya joshi]

Thanks very much, Joshi. Yes, I did a tight crop but didn't want the eye to be in the middle of the frame so chose to include the legs and clip the antenna. Do you think it looks bad?


No Brenden not at all.. Its looks great.. I just read on net about photographing of butterfly..
(that try to take full body of butterfly with legs and antenna if is possible)..so.. from that i try to suggest it.:S3:

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks, Jerry


I am a bit distracted by the uneven lighting (with the face and front of the leaf in shadows). A slightly different angle, flash or reflector may have helped.

Actually, the shadow is from vignette dodging I added, but I think I may have over done it.:e3 I was trying to tone down how light the leaf was in relation to the butterfly.


I like the effect of the BW background very much! Makes the colors come out even better. How did you manage to select the BG between the fine hairs on the face? I'm always struggling with the quick selection tool...:e3

This was process of trial and error, which I ended up spending way too much time on!
One thing that helps in selections the "Refine Edge" command in CS5, and in many cases it works well to do very fine selections like hairs. However, in this case I actually worked around the hairs, and removed color saturation.

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks, Joshi,


I just read on net about photographing of butterfly..
(that try to take full body of butterfly with legs and antenna if is possible)..so.. from that i try to suggest it.:S3:

I do like the full body butterfly shots, and it always looks great when you can get all of the parts in the frame and in focus. :S3:

[Patrick Sparkman]

Nice shot. I like the composition a lot, and the butterfly is posed nicely. At first I thought the background looked a little bazar, but it is growing on me. Wonder what it would look like with a subtle green instead of completely desaturated?

[Julie Kenward]

Brendan, I love the pose and comp on this but I have to agree with Patrick that the black and white area seems a bit out of place. Maybe if you took the lower leaf to black and white also it would work better? I also like his idea of trying the green filter for the BG.

Another option would be to select the BG and do a surface blur to it with a high threshold to help blur the original scene. This can really calm down the BG while leaving the sharp edges in tact.

[denise ippolito]

Brendan, Great suggestion by Patrick. I like the sharp details on your BF and the pose is nice too.:S3:

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks, Patrick, Jules, and Denise, much appreciated.

Here's with some green added back to BG with photo filter.
What do you think about the dodging & vignette in FG, is it too dark?

[Mitch Haimov]

I like this one, Brendan--the repost works better for me. And I think the tight crop works well. LR is dark for my tastes, but not overwhelmingly so. Excellent sharpness and detail on your subject throughout. Dig that (compound) eye!

[Ken Childs]

Brendan, the eye definitely has it....it's incredible! I like both versions but I think the green BG has a slight edge. I don't mind the dark corner, probably because I'm so mesmerized by the eye. :bg3:

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Brendan. You really nailed the focus on this guy and the eye is quite striking! The comp works, as presented, but I'm wondering if I would like it even more if all of the antennas were included.:2 I like what you did with the background in your repost as the green has a more natural look (if you're going for a natural look) and the darker LRC doesn't bother me as my eye goes right to the bright butterfly. Well done.

[Brendan Dozier]

Thanks, Mitch, Ken, Steve, much appreciated.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Brendan,
I like the repost....so way to go following the suggestions! Nicely done!