PP: Lightroom 2.6
cropped tight to minimize cluttered BG
exposure: set black and white points
tone curve: brought darks and shadows down, lights up
sharpening and NR
clone tool: removed dust spots from butterfly wings and body, removed dead plant material and a big rock at top L and R
adjustment brush: selective sharpening on wings and head, lightened and darkened gravel areas above BF
post-crop vignette
This is my first attempt at removing so much from the BG. Not sure if I pulled this one off. I think the transition is too obvious. C&C welcome, as always!
Last edited by Julie Brown; 02-17-2010 at 11:18 AM.
I think you did really well with the PP work. I can't even see where you removed the rocks and plant material. I like the warm colours and you captured nice detail. You can even remove a little bit of space from the bottom if you want to.:)
I also think you did well with the cloning. Tilting the 'fly a bit would be a good idea.
I'm not a big fan of photos of variegated looking species of 'flies on dirt. Because the bug is so close to what's in the BG, there's not enough separation and the BG looks too sharp but it's always worth taking the shot. At least you have a record of the species. :)
Nice cloning but it is a bit lighter in tone...I'd pull that back with either a multiply blend mode (masking off the bf and bottom half) or try using a levels or curves adjustment in that area.
I really like the view of the butterfly and the way it blends so well with it's surroundings!
Julie,
To me you did fine with the cloning. Like Ken, I'm not a big fan of butterflies in dirt but of course I would have also hustled to take this shot myself of a beautiful species I rarely get to see.
Hey Julie, sometimes you have to work with what is presented, you did a nice job, my suggestion would be to have given some tilt/angle in the body and wings.
THe only thing I can notice is the darkening above the BF, especially above the wings. A layer mask should help I think, but I only tried once and it's a bit of fiddling. Otherwise a nice capture showing good habitat.
Thanks Mike and Akos for the additional comments.I don't know how to do layer masks in PS Elements so I just went back to the things I know how to do in Lightroom. I did a bit more cloning, tilted the butterfly, and used the GND filter to bring down the brightness above the wings. Here is the repost.:)