Lesser Wanderer (Danaus chrysippus petilia ) Bowra Station SW Queensland

[Rod Warnock]

Lesser Wanderer (Danaus chrysippus petilia ) Bowra Station SW Queensland
Canon EOS 40D Lens 100-400mm L IS USM at 400mm ISO 400 F 7.1 1/400 fill flash 8 April 2010
Taken while trialing the then new now drowned camera and lens. There were plentiful blooms of a yellow spiny thistle attracting a number of butterfly species. The late light and this pair of mating butterflies landed on the grass seed stem in the late light, so took a break from trying for Splendid Wrens.
Thanks for viewing
Best regards
Rod Warnock

[Mike Landwehr]

Rod, I really like the way the diagonal grass stem works in this image. The OOF background is nice. Everything that should be sharp looks sharp. Comparing the Wanderer to the Monarch Butterfly we have in North America, the colors look a little washed out. Perhaps it's due to the flash, or perhaps the Wanderer simply as brightly colored as the Monarch.

[Ravi Hirekatur]

Very nice image. I like the diagonal composition and the placement of the butterflies, the crispness of the image and the OOF background. Agree with above on colors.

[Julie Kenward]

Rod, what a lovely image! I like your vertical crop (although I'd prefer the bottom of the stem coming in at the bottom of the frame instead of the side) but I wanted to see what a horizontal crop would look like, also. In the larger vertical I think you get more of a sense of their environment; in the horizontal more of the focus goes to the butterflies.

Because you used some fill flash your bottom butterfly got a little more light than the male so I pulled the midtones down a bit and then burned them to bring out the dark lines and a bit more of the color. She still feels a bit washed out, though. I also cloned out the green area between the two insects.

Just a few small tweaks if you're interested...lovely BG and great choice of aperture here!

[Rod Warnock]

Thank you Mike and Ravi for your constructive comments..much appreciated.
Julie thank you also in particular taking the time to work on my image. Like the square cropping and it also refreshing to see someone prepared to step outside the constraints of 3 X 2 set by many as default. Too often one sees comments like "I am not a fan of square crops". Thanks for the processing on the image. I confess to cropping as presented early in the work flow and then let my choice of crop become set in my thoughts.The green foliage I did think about cloning out then decided to leave and now seeing your version..I like it !!
Best regards
Rod

[Ken Childs]

Hi Rod, I like the OP a lot but Jules' repost really takes this one up a couple of notches! The removal of the green and the tighter comp are the 2 main fixes I would have suggested.


Comparing the Wanderer to the Monarch Butterfly we have in North America, the colors look a little washed out. Perhaps it's due to the flash, or perhaps the Wanderer simply as brightly colored as the Monarch.

Mike, the Lesser Wanderer is less brightly colored than the Monarch. It is important to keep the 'Lesser' as part of the common name of this species because they do have Monarchs in Australia where they are known as Wanderers. :S3:

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Rod. Nice use of the 400 mm "macro" and you captured a good behavioral image that is also aesthetically pleasing. I, too, would have suggested the same tweaks that Jules accomplished in her repost. These changes have made a good image noticeably stronger! :S3:

[Galliani Carlo]

very nice image. Great capture of behavioral moment and very great background
I would try to crop a few (10%) the vertical