Gulf Fritillary in flight

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS @ 400mm
Manual mode
1/2000"
F10
ISO 400
Canon 430EX with homemade extender: On, Fired
HH
ACR & CS5


Cropped, contrast, NR on the BG, SH, high pass and smart sharpening. Applied some extra contrast and sharpening to the eye. I tried to blend the darkish area right below the 'fly (plants and shadows in the BG) but I wasn't happy with the results so I left it alone. I thought about toning down the white at the rear of the abdomen but left it as is because that's how it really looked. Is it too distracting?

[Dave Leroy]

A really neat photo and excellent capture Ken. The head angle and eye contact would make the ha police proud.
I like the bit of darkish area under the b'fly. For me it adds to the upward and away flight motion of the shot. I also don't mind the bright area on the abdomen although I can see how others may find it bright and/or distracting. I might consider toning down the bg flowers a bit but that would be all.

[Allen Sparks]

wow - nice in flight catch Ken....tough to do! Love the head on look. The white on the abdomen can go as far as I am concerned. The eye looks slightly over sharpened for my taste. Congrats on getting one of these guys in flight!!

[Julie Kenward]

I know how hard this is to do so my hat is off to you! I do find that the head gets a little lost in that back wing - if the two hadn't been overlapping I think this would have been an unbelievable image. I can't wrap my brain around the fact that this was taken at 1/2000 of a second and the wings are still blurred! Amazing creatures...

[Steve Maxson]

Wow Ken, I've never even thought to try something like this! - probably because it's so difficult!! Nice background and the OOF flowers help to give it context. I like the flight angle you captured and the sharpness is good enough for this to be a keeper, but not quite (IMO) at the level to make it spectacular. :S3: