Taken two days ago during my final outing of the year to our local butterfly exhibition. The butterflies were still very plentiful, but showing a little bit of wear and tear, as new ones are no longer being released. It was a warm/sunny day, and they were very active, hard to get them to pose!
D4 Sigma 180 f/10 1/400s ISO 800 . No tripods or monopods are allowed, so I have a little brace that I hold against my belt. R1C1 flash, two heads. Artificial background held behind the subject to avoid the inevitable black background
Excellent wonderful colours. Exposure looks good to me. Details first class. DOF is very good, just for the sake of it I would suggest taking a few duplicate images at a slightly greater distance, this will give a tad more DOF. I have come to realise (after all these years!) that filling the frame with macro subjects usually makes life unecessarily difficult especially when the subject is as large as a butterfly or moth. In this case for instance it just may have been possible to get the left antenna fully in focus whilst still getting a very high quality image.
Very nice. Lovely pose. I like seeing that curly thing. I wondered how you got the lovely bg, then read your comments. Clever of you. I would have thought the butterflies would move too fast.
I think the image could be brighter, but is OK as is. I, too, am working on letting there be a bit more space around my macro shots.
I like darker images, and edit in a darkened room, so sometimes I do post images a bit darker than others like. Here is a slightly brightened version. Let me know if this is more to your liking.
Hi Randy. Very nice pose, comp, and sharpness! The background brightness is somewhat subjective and a matter of personal taste. I think I like the OP with the more dramatic darker background better.
Love the first version of this image though both are stunning. Amazing detail in the insect. The bg and composition are great. Congrats on making such a fine image.
Hi Randy
So you are a master of macro too? Great mate!
Wonderful close-up. Not sure how much a butterfly would move (even the antennae) while stationary, perhaps making multiple images more difficult? I've recently tried the stacking with mushrooms and it works well enough I think.
Great work!
The conservatory where this one was imaged has a pretty strong ventilation system, so the leaves are often blowing a bit, so stacking would be pretty hit or miss. Some areas is might work.
This was taken on a relatively bright day in Michigan, so the butterflies were much more active, not sitting still for long.
Late Season Postman
Reply With Quote
