Bob Benson, FPSA, EPSA  


Feeding Monarch by Bob Benson, FPSA, EPSA

October 2021 - Feeding Monarch

October 2021 - Bob Benson, FPSA, EPSA

Original

About the Image(s)

Taken in August when I had a monarch visiting in my yard for a week or so before moving on. I used a 100-400 at 400 mm f16, ISO 800. In LR, I cropped to more pleasing vertical, and applied Auto Develop. I then took it over to PS to darken the edges, add more contrast, and selectively brighten the butterfly. The top of the wing was very close to the border, so I used Content Aware Fill to add some at the top. I also darkened the flowers quite a bit, as they seemed to be competing with the monarch.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
5 comments posted




Tony Au Yeong   Tony Au Yeong
I think you have done a great job to the image, from cropping, brightening the monarch, adding more room at the top and darkening the flowers. The butterfly is sharply in focused, which can be difficult to achieve for the wings. One suggestion is to move the monarch more to the right so that there is more space in front of the head.   Posted: 10/10/2021 09:05:13



 
I just sent you email, but then realized you are probably busy with PSA events.
The edits you made to the butterfly are very nice and expose even more detail in the wings. I'm not sure I would have changed the flower colors because now they are very similar to the butterfly. I personally like the contrast in colors. I wonder if reducing the highlights or a selective tool would work to reduce the brightness of the yellows and prevent competing elements. It's a beautiful butterfly and I agree with Tony to extend the left for more space. We are in the Monarch's south migration flyway amd I've watched them daily travel in line over the house. Too high for any decent shots, but still phenomenal.   Posted: 10/10/2021 15:09:14



Jose Cartas   Jose Cartas
Everything looks perfect to me, including the darkening of the flowers. I agree with others that you could leave a little more space on the left when cropping (crop more on the right to keep the vertical ratio). Other than that, I would make the twig on the left coming from the butterfly less intrusive, maybe by darkening or cloning it out.   Posted: 10/13/2021 17:28:55



Mervyn Hurwitz   Mervyn Hurwitz
Bob, you have done an excellent job at processing this image. The butterfly is perfectly sharp and I love the bokeh.
I would prefer a little more space in front of the butterfly, left side and perhaps less on the right   Posted: 10/14/2021 13:06:24



Anges van der Logt   Anges van der Logt
A very well executed image and editing. Not so many comments. Like the darkening of the flowers, and adding some more space at the top of the image. I like the 4 by 5 crop too.   Posted: 10/19/2021 06:17:34