This butterfly was captured yesterday at Meijers Gardens in Grand Rapids Mich. Each year they have a 6-8 week display of tropical butterflies in their conservatory. Lovely place, but a challenge to shoot at because of the crowds, lighting and prohibition against tripods.
Nikon D4 Sigma 180 f/3.5 @ f/16 1/200s ISO 100 R1C1 hand held. The background is courtesy of Roy Van Loo who makes them up and we work in pairs, one guy holding it, the other shooting. The reason for this of course is that with the flash, the 'real' background would go black.
Post: LR4 CS6, small crop for comp, selective sharpening.
I really liked the fiddle head in the upper left corner, wish I had more room around it.
Randy, use of the background here really stands out. Detail in the wing is nice and of course your exposure seems spot on. DOF is great. I hope to get up there very soon. Why do they always face the other way? Take care.
Bit of an unusual POV, but it works well here with sufficient DOF to cover everything important (including the fiddlehead). The hand held BG worked out nicely as well. I'd be inclined to crop a bit from the bottom (avoiding clipping the perch) and more from the right.
Mitch: One of the things that attracted me to the image was the sweep of the ferns behind the butterfly, and so I didn't want to crop too tight to clip them off, or diminish the effect too much. I have already cropped from below and to the right some. I do appreciate the thought process though, and would prefer the butterfly to be a bit more to the right as well. What I posted seemed like the best compromise for what I was after.
Gary: Def. worth a trip. The number of butterflies out was quite good, the usual cast of characters. Some where already pretty beat up however.
Beautiful image Randy... lovely comp and feel to the image... I would maybe taken the image straight on... maybe bring down the highlights on the antennae... otherwise a very pleasing capture... WD!
Thanks for the additional comments. Diane, I do think I can extend the canvas a bit as you mentioned, but was thinking this might just be one of those images that I really liked, but didn't do much for others!
Jason: I do wish I had been perfectly square to the butterfly, but it was at the edge of the pathway, and you aren't allowed to go off at all, for fear of being ejected!
I often find that delicate butterflies can be overpowered by some of the large tropical leaves that they sit on at the conservatory, and was thrilled to see them on this fine, delicate plant. 1st time in 4 years of going there. I will do a little more work on it!
Hi Randy. Very nice light and good overall sharpness on the butterfly! I also like the vegetation on which the butterfly is perched and the background looks totally natural. Like you, I might like the subject to be a little farther right in the frame, but I wouldn't want to cut off any of the fern fronds to accomplish this. This is a strong image that, as already noted, would be even better if the butterfly wasn't facing slightly away from you.
Frolicking amongst the ferns
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