Painted Lady

[Keith Kennedy]

This image was made when the light was still quite bright so that the petals of the foreground cone flower are a tad 'hot' even after using quick mask and 'mutiply' to tone them down. The coneflower petals in the background add some colorful impact. The use of a 500mm lens plus an extension tube can produce some pleasing macro images.

Canon 500mm f/4 IS lens + Canon EF 25 Extension Tube and EOS 1DM3; ISO 400; AV mode, Evaluative metering =0; 1/160s at f5.6; Gitzo 1325 tripod with Wimberley II head.

[Robert O'Toole]

Sweet image Keith, colors and details are great, the focus plane is right on target. Shame about the hot spots.

Wonder if you level the BF wings it would look less crooked? Just a thought.

Robert

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Keith,
To me the hotspots do overwhelm this one. I hope you got in closer as you did with some of your other posts because that would minimize the brightness............or were some of the other posts the close ups?
Roman

[Keith Kennedy]

Roman, this is a different butterfly versus my earlier posts. I may try croppng more tightly to eliminate more of the hot foliage and redo the mask/light intensity. However, this may be one of those times where the idea was good but the light was too much for the cone flower petals. The latter burn out very easily if the light is too strong or direct. Maybe next time I will consider two different exposures with the idea of blending the two or simply pass on the opportunity.

Robert, I thought about leveling the wings but then the flower is at an angle. However, I may look at a compromise on the angle. I like the colors in this image and the pose--but the light was not perfect and it shows. Thanks for the helpful comments.

Keith

[John Cooper]

Yes Keith, your lens/tubes combination has a lovely affect on the BG elements. The perspective that you have captured this butterfly, however, doesn't quite have the impact IMO as your previous posts.