Viceroy

[Allen Sparks]

Canon 7D, 300mm f4 plus 1.4x TC, monopod
ISO 400, f11, 1/200s, natural light

Another butterfly that has been very hard to get for me. Finally tracked one down last weekend. I did some burning on the perch to tone it down.

[Steve Maxson]

There are a lot of positive aspects to this image, Allen - a fresh specimen with vivid colors, good exposure with detail in both blacks and whites, good sharpness, and a clean background. My only small criticisms are that the butterfly is facing slightly away from you and I would prefer to have a bit more room at the top. Overall, this is a very nice image.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Lovely colours and perfect smooth BG !
Poor thing has its wing torn a bit I guess.
Would agree with Steve on giving some room on top.

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Beautiful BF, nice sharp, excellent texture on wings and very nice BG. I do like tigh crop but I think just a bit more room at top would be nice. I like it!

[Anita Bower]

Very nice! Great BG and colors. I have just been noticing the difference between a Viceroy and a Monarch (I'm new to butterflies). We have lots of Monarchs, but haven't seen a Viceroy.

[Ken Childs]

The Colors, comp and BG all look great but I'm wishing I could see an eye. Not a big problem but that back antenna could use some sharpening.

Same genus as the Red-spotted Purple and just as hard to photograph for the same reasons.

[Julie Kenward]

You all sure are getting good at this critiquing stuff! Allen, you have some great suggestions here for how to further improve upon a very nice image. Yes, a head turn would have been stronger and I'd at least attempt removing the OOF antenna and adding a copy of the good one in its place. I'd be pretty happy if this were one of mine. ;)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Allen,
Very cool that people are giving you excellent advice and critiques!!! I see everyone is paying attention!;) Yes....not my favorite position facing away....so ditto Steve. Only new thing I want to add......you need to start palying with flash.....even if it is the pop up! In this bright light situation, flash gives you a billion options you don't have with natural light! The sooner you start exploring it....the sooner you will master the balance and further open up the world of macro potential!!! The flash is one of the most powerful tools in macro. You are very profiecient at the natural light spectrum of macro....time to push yourself and the equipment!