Sharon Prislipsky, APSA, EPSA
About the Image(s)
In early May I found some Monarch eggs and caterpillars on milkweed in my garden. I moved the caterpillars into a habitat and provided them with milkweed leaves until they went into the chrysalis stage. When the butterflies were ready to emerge I set up my Canon R5 on a tripod with my Sigma 150mm macro lens. I also moved a potted Salvia into place outside the habitat so that they could be moved onto an attractive flower. I put a foamboard that I had painted green behind the plant to eliminate any possible background distraction.
Settings were: ISO 3200; f/7.1; 1/250 sec. I had to wait quite a while for the butterfly's wings to dry out enough to begin to spread them, but I was able to capture quite a few images before it flew off.
This image is uncropped. I first processed the image in Topaz AI DeNoise. In LR I adjusted white and black points and slighly bumped up contrast and clarity. Using the HSL panel I tweaked the saturation and luminosity of both green and orange. Finally. I darkened the background and added a slight bit of texture masking out the butterfly.