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Thread: French Alps Blue

  1. #1
    BPN Member Julie Brown's Avatar
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    Default French Alps Blue

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    image shot in meadow in village of Uriage Le Bains in the French Alps 415m altitude, July 2009
    Canon 40D, 300mm f4L IS, f5.6, 1/400sec, ISO 100, 0 EV,manual exp, pattern metering, B+ W circular polarizer, HH

    PP Lightroom 2.6
    significant crop
    Exposure: set black and white points
    fill light
    enhance clarity and vibrance, saturation +2
    tweak tone curve
    sharpening and NR
    HSL slight shift purple and magenta
    adjustment brush: underside of butterfly exposure increase; selective sharpening
    post-crop vignette

    all comments welcome!
    Last edited by Julie Brown; 01-31-2010 at 10:16 AM.
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  2. #2
    Julie Kenward
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    Good details on the butterfly, Julie! It's always best to try to catch them from the side or front if at all possible so we can make a little eye contact with them but I do like that we get a peek inside the wings from this angle.

    You sure got a sloppy looking flower here but there is one advantage to it - it's not competing for the attention of the butterfly in the image!

    I noticed that you have a pretty bright green area in the upper right corner (URC) compared to the rest of the greens. If you want to calm that down a bit open up a hue/saturation adjustment and click on "yellows" and then push the saturation level down a few points. This will lower the brightness (which is caused by a more direct burst of sunlight here) and help it blend in with the other greens a bit more. Just a suggestion...

  3. #3
    BPN Member Julie Brown's Avatar
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    Thanks Jules. That is a ratty-looking flower isn't it? I do strive to get the butterfly in one plane and the eye in focus. When I first started photographing butterflies my main priority was species identification. Only later did I start to consider making the flower an important component of the composition. I chose this image for the blue of the dorsal side of the wings and because the BG was not as busy as some of the other images with nicer flowers. I will go back and rework the BG to try and tone down the green spots.
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  4. #4
    Mike Moats
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    Hey Julie, I like it. It has a nice soft look. I don't mind the yellow in the BG.:)

  5. #5
    BPN Member Julie Brown's Avatar
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    Thanks Mike. I liked this image because you could see both the dorsal and ventral sides of the butterfly. Blues are always prettier when they open their wings.
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    I like this image quite a bit! The blue colors on the wings are gorgeous, as is the detail--those little hairs (?). You did a great job with sharpness on the butterfly while maintaining blurring in the bg. I can see what Jules means about the bright URC. The flower doesn't bother me, and I didn't notice it's raggedness until reading Jules' post. :)

  7. #7
    BPN Member Julie Brown's Avatar
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    Thanks Anita. The blue in the wings drew my eye when I was shooting it. As Jules pointed out, at least the flower doesn't draw attention away from the butterfly.
    My photoblog: juliebrown.aminus3.com

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    "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks”.

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