Barbara Eddy  


Swallowtail Butterfly - Tennessee by Barbara Eddy

November 2024 - Swallowtail Butterfly - Tennessee

About the Image(s)

While in Tennessee I had an afternoon by myself in my friend’s garden. I had been traveling and needed some time with nature. It was a windy day and I couldn’t do much photography but then I had a wild thought. I decided to try to photograph butterflies in flight. What was I thinking? The butterflies were being blown around quite a bit. It wasn’t an easy flight day for them, but I sat near the phlox and enjoyed the challenge as well as the flowers.

I didn’t get many images of the butterflies in flight but I did manage to capture the swallowtails on the phlox. I couldn’t help but “play” with this shot. I used textured layers to create a more artistic rendition of the image.

I love my time in nature with my camera. I also find working on images in the digital darkroom very rewarding. I have learned to embrace layers in Photoshop especially texture layers which can lead to some artistic portrayals of our images. I hope you enjoy this rendition of my image.

Model: NIKON Z9
Frame #: 3345
Lens (mm): 550 (Nikkor Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR)
ISO: 2000
Aperture: 14
Shutter: 1600
Program: Manual
Focus Mode: AF-C
White Bal.: CLOUDY
Quality: RAW


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




Ginny Salus   Ginny Salus
I envy your ability to take a less than perfect photo and make it awesome! Love the apparent reflection of the colors in the flowers in the background and the up-close face on the butterfly. The photos conveys motion!   Posted: 11/03/2024 15:39:58
Barbara Eddy   Barbara Eddy
Thanks Ginny for your comments about my image. I love photography. Sometimes my images inspire me to see if I can be more creative after the shot is in my computer. This one was fun to work with. I hope the shot encourages others to explore what can be done by added textures to their images.   Posted: 11/04/2024 14:31:06



Dan McKenna   Dan McKenna
Very nice color composition Barbara and a tasteful use of textures. This often becomes overwhelming, but you handled it very well.   Posted: 11/04/2024 22:58:54
Barbara Eddy   Barbara Eddy
Thanks Dan, I appreciate your comments.   Posted: 11/05/2024 13:52:43



Frans Gunterus   Frans Gunterus
Hi Barbara. I enjoy the story how you capture this butterfly image. You apply texture layers to blur out bussy foreground. I was impressed by the creator of the attached image. How he/she changed busy foreground and background to a mesmerizing sweet image. Just my two cents.   Posted: 11/05/2024 01:29:47
Comment Image
Barbara Eddy   Barbara Eddy
Hi Frans, thanks for your comments. I like your wording "mesmerizing sweet image". I do agree with you the images you shared here is a "mesmerizing sweet image". I will have to explore this technique more. Thanks for passing this on. If I can figure this one out I may be able to have more tools in my photography tool box. Many thanks.   Posted: 11/05/2024 13:55:44