Karen Botvin
December 2024 - FL Swallowtail Butterfly
Original
About the Image(s)
This image was made with my Nikon Z7-2, a full-frame camera set in the DX mode, with a 105mm macro lens, ISO 800, f/5.0 @ 1/8000 sec. Our local camera club had a 10-day Macro challenge so I tried very hard not to shoot just flowers. I decided to go to our local state park and look for butterflies. I was lucky enough to catch this Swallowtail leaving one flower and on its way to the next one. I made a few tweaks to the shadows and highlights in LR and cropped it to a square. Then, I removed some dead leaves in PS. I also added a highpass filter set at about 3.2 in PS. Comments always welcome.
10 comments posted
The butterfly shows movement and expression in the leg and proboscis positions and is justified in getting the focus of attention. It is complimented by the red flowers but in some ways there is competition. One way to resolve this could be to take out the top right flower, free transform the butterfly and move it down. Then crop up to below the two red flowers to give the butterfly a more central position in the picture. Posted: 12/06/2024 00:27:27
Thank you, Piers for your suggestion. I see what you mean and will try removing the red flower in the background. Not sure about the crop but I'll play with it. Thanks for your comments. Posted: 12/16/2024 23:59:58
Beautiful butterfly with the sharpness of all of the wirey looking body parts. In the perfect world the flower it is sitting on should be as sharp as the butterfly, especially since the flower below it is sharp. If you do not want to free transform the butterfly to a different location, I feel the next best edit could be to blur the sharp flower and crop some more. That way everything would be out-of-focus except the butterfly. Tough one. Posted: 12/06/2024 20:03:00
Thank you, Shirley, for your observation. The butterfly was leaving the in-focus flower and the one thanks out of focus was behind the butterfly so not in the same focal plane. I believe Piers' suggestion of removing that flower would eliminate that confusion. Posted: 12/17/2024 00:02:53
This is a lovely capture of a butterfly in flight!
Your timing is excellent, as you've frozen the action beautifully and maintained sharpness of the subject.
The contrast between the butterfly and the vibrant red flowers creates a striking visual impact, and the blurred background helps isolate your subject, making it stand out.
Another great photo, Well done.
Posted: 12/06/2024 23:43:10
Your timing is excellent, as you've frozen the action beautifully and maintained sharpness of the subject.
The contrast between the butterfly and the vibrant red flowers creates a striking visual impact, and the blurred background helps isolate your subject, making it stand out.
Another great photo, Well done.
Posted: 12/06/2024 23:43:10
Thanks so much, Martin, for your continued encouragement. I genuinely appreciate it. Posted: 12/17/2024 00:04:07
Hi Karen,
At initial viewing of this image, I thought that the beautiful butterfly was resting/static on the red flowers it appears to be just above. Further viewing revealed only 2 sharp aspects of the image with the rest in nice degrees of blur. So, to my eye, there is a visual conflict relating to the perspective.
Piers has an interesting suggestion, but it is technically complicated.
Otherwise, I love the fact that you captured the butterfly with motionless wings. Posted: 12/09/2024 22:17:16
At initial viewing of this image, I thought that the beautiful butterfly was resting/static on the red flowers it appears to be just above. Further viewing revealed only 2 sharp aspects of the image with the rest in nice degrees of blur. So, to my eye, there is a visual conflict relating to the perspective.
Piers has an interesting suggestion, but it is technically complicated.
Otherwise, I love the fact that you captured the butterfly with motionless wings. Posted: 12/09/2024 22:17:16
Thanks, Jim! I am going to try Piers suggestion and see if, one, I can do it, and two, whether I like it better. Posted: 12/17/2024 00:06:25
I am guilty of suggesting something like that? It could be overkill; however, what I would do is go back to the original, clone out or use regenerate AI to remove the blurred flowers. Select the butterfly with the marquee or lasso tool, free transform, use the move tool to move the butterfly, then work around it with a soft brush. Attached is what I did with the jpeg to give you an idea. Posted: 12/17/2024 16:26:39
Oh that does look much cleaner, Piers. Thanks for the suggestion. Posted: 12/17/2024 18:22:48