Giant Swallowtail

[Paul Lagasi]

It wasn't many years ago when there wasn't any chance of seeing one of these lovely swallowtails in the Ottawa area but over the last few they have been more and more common.

On a walk in to one of my favorite shorebird viewing platform, there is a 100 acre field, full of clover. They're were many butterflies, Clouded Sulphur's, White's and Monarchs. But I really had fun chasing this large butterfly from flower to flower hoping to get a usable image. They never stop.

I chose to use Topaz Lens Effect program, and tried many of the effects before settling in on Lens Tilt/Shift Effect.

Then I used Nik Color Effects Pro software and used Bi-color User Defined Effect for color.

I left the image dark and found it gives it almost 3d look.

Thanks for looking

[Cindy Cone]

Hi Paul, really nice work with the Lens Tilt/Shift effect. I like the blurred motion effect of the wings while the clover and butterfly body do almost look 3D. I do like the darker tones, and would maybe just burn or clone the lighter tones at the top left and also the one right above the top wing, but that's a really minor nit.

Great image!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Paul, I really like the sharpness of the flower and the face of the Swallowtail and the diffusion on the rest of the image. I agree with Cindy about toning down those two brighter spots. Nice one

[Christopher Miller]

Really like the selective focus and blur, Paul. Nice colors too. I think it could use a little more room top and bottom if you have it.

[Kerry Perkins]

This is really pretty Paul, I like the warm colors and selective focus. I'm especially fond of the sharpness on the clover and head of the butterfly, which draws the viewer into the image.

[Paul Lagasi]

Thanks for the comments, I removed the white areas....Christopher, I could add a bit at the top but in my first version I tried the clover flower didn't look right suspended above nothing. I will try and rework this image a bit more.