Morning Hairstreak

[Jim Bridges]

Made with Nikkor AF 80-200/2.8 @ 155mm and 25mm tube on a tripod.f2.8 @ 1000 sec.ISO 100Processed with NX2.I made one frame and it flew away to start the day.110930

[Ken Childs]

Hey Jim, I think I see what you were going for with the early morning light but having the 'fly half into the shade isn't really working for me. Using fill flash might have been the way to go although it doesn't sound like you had time to play around with different settings. As it is now, I would crop some from the top and do a little extra work on the one OOF antenna.

[Jim Bridges]

Hey Jim, I think I see what you were going for with the early morning light but having the 'fly half into the shade isn't really working for me. Using fill flash might have been the way to go although it doesn't sound like you had time to play around with different settings. As it is now, I would crop some from the top and do a little extra work on the one OOF antenna.Thanks Ken and I agree with you...I hate it when they don't want to play...:bg3:

[Allen Sparks]

Nice image with critical focus spot on. Agree with Ken about fill flash but as you say they don't always let us explore all the options.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Jim, some good suggestions already made. As presented, I would try to lose some of the leaf. It is a bit overpowering in the frame. A vertical crop looks promising, but I'm not sure if the original allows it quality-wise. Try to get these guys when its cold (early morning for instance), they are much less jumpy because they need the warmth to fly.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jim. Your butterfly is sharply focused against a clean background. At first, I didn't notice the shadow on the wing, but now that I see it I don't think it is helping the image. There are some cropping suggestions above that would be worth exploring - you may have several pleasing options. With the antenna you could try zooming in to about 300% and then carefully cloning the fuzzy OOF edges - this will give that area more "apparent" sharpness. These little guys make great photo subjects and I hope to see more of these from you. :S3:

[Bob Miller]

H i Jim...I agree with cropping from the top . The shadowed wing is a bit of a problem with me but I don't know what you could do about it!