Tropical Swallowtail catching some rays

[Randy Stout]

This fellow was imaged at the Meijer's Gardens, in Grand Rapids, Michigan during their annual butterfly exhibit. The background was created by Roy van Loo, a local photographer who is talented and creative. It was painted on a piece of cloth stretched over a reflector frame, that we would take turns holding behind the butterflies while the other one shot. Took a while to get the right head angle on this guy.:S3:

D700 Sigma 180 f/3.5 macro, f/16 1/160s ISO 500 Flash R1C1

Post:; CS5, selective sharpening full frame

Advice and comments always appreciated. As always, wished for a bit more DOF

Cheers

Randy

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Randy. I see you are getting into the macro/tight comp thing. :S3: You captured another great pose, the flash is handled well, you have good overall sharpness within your DOF, and the artificial background is looking good. (Isn't it nice to have an extra set of hands when doing these kinds of photos.) There are a couple minor tweaks you might consider - 1) You might clone the OOF dark leaf in the LR - not a big deal. 2) Flash typically seems to emphasize any areas of wear on the wings which show up as little whitish spots. If you were so inclined, you could carefully clone over some of these to give the butterfly a more newly-emerged look. Again, not a big deal and just something for you to consider. :S3: This is well done.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Randy, this is quite nice. Love the background and the details in the butterfly.

[Mitch Haimov]

Very nicely done. The artificial BG worked quite well and it is a pleasing composition. Also did well on DOF. I do find the eye shine from the flash a bit unsettling. Perhaps mounting the flash on a bracket that allows you to angle it down a bit to keep it pointed at your subject would prevent that as well as the specular highlights.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice shot indeed, DOF seems adequate to me, the only suggestion I would make would be to make the butterfly a little smaller in the frame - I know this a personal issue, I get the impression you like things a bit bigger on your side of the Atlantic - but if it was a tad smaller you would also get a little more DOF.:S3:

[Randy Stout]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input.

Jonathan: I have about 2 dozen frames of this guy, with a variety of sizes of the butterfly in the frame.I liked this one because it showed the fine detail the best, and had the cleanest presentation of the plant below, but appreciate your point.

Roman made me do it:t3

Cheers

Randy

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Very nice BF, good pose and sharpness. Very good job on the BG.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Randy, one day.... one day Roman will come round to my way of thinkin':c3:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input.

Jonathan: I have about 2 dozen frames of this guy, with a variety of sizes of the butterfly in the frame.I liked this one because it showed the fine detail the best, and had the cleanest presentation of the plant below, but appreciate your point.

Roman made me do it:t3

Cheers

Randy
That must be why I like it so much! I just spent Saturday painting a few BG's myself.....but for Birds! I think any suggestions made by Steve would cover my thoughts......all in all a great job!