I took this photo during a walk along the Verde River in Arizona. It was early afternoon, and the light was pretty harsh. But I couldn’t resist trying some photos of small butterflies and other bugs. I ended up with many blurry, overexposed shots with horrible shadows. But this one came out okay considering the conditions. I was pleased that this Dainty Sulphur cooperated with various poses before flying off. I did some cropping and light editing on the image to clear up the background.
Specific Feedback Requested
I welcome any feedback.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Taken with an Olympus TG-6 at 18mm, 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250
Handheld
Single shot
Good effort and persistence. Butterflies are notoriously hard to shoot at midday. The serious butterfliers usually shoot on damp, dewy mornings when the critters are still chilled from the overnight and can’t fly around too much yet. You got most of it in focus, but not the eyes which are critical. You also cut off the wings on the top. When that happens it’s often a good idea to crop even closer. Say you cut the feet off a bird - zoom in closer and make it a portrait instead Make sense? If you had this sharper I’d say come in closer and include more of the flower and less of the stems/stamens, whatever they are sticking up into the top. I keep looking at them wondering what they are instead of looking at the subject.
Eek. Is that overload?? Sorry, I’m a bit of a macro nut myself and tend to go on and on.
Liz, it looks like you made a pretty nice effort on a difficult subject as well as in harsh lighting. Still, I am sure that you had fun while shoot, at least that is what I always come away with, even if my shot isn’t quite what I had hoped for when shooting. I can see the dots in his eyes, so my first thought was it is in focus, but when I bring it up into the larger view, it seems a bit distorted, as @Kris_Smith mentioned. You mentioned cropping some, so I am wondering if it was a large crop, and it could be a bit of pixelating going on? I notice that you said the lens was 18mm, and I know these guys are very skittish, so I am thinking that might be at least part of the problem. I like the smooth background for him, and that you caught him face on. The stamens are a bit distracting, as Kris mentioned, but sometimes, when shooting in nature it is difficult to get a clean shot. A longer lens can help isolate the subject too. I am not familiar with your camera, so not sure if it allows you to change lens or not. I hope these little guys will be willing to pose for you again and you can get an even better shot.
@Kris_Smith Thanks for taking the time to give such detailed feedback.
Yes, I definitely have better luck on damp, dewy mornings and am looking forward to spring when I can better coordinate my schedule and destinations with those of sleepy butterflies, bees, damselflies, and more. I appreciate your point about cropping. In this image, I was trying to crop out a distraction below and clipped the top of the wings too much. So I might try some more editing on my own to see if I can find a better balance. The plant (a wild mustard) seems to be a bit problematic no matter what I do. In any case, it is a good learning experience to try working with an image like this.
Thanks for your thoughtful feedback @Shirley Freeman. I had a wonderful time trying to photograph this and a few other small butterflies along the river. And I consider it very good practice to prepare for spring when more bugs will be out and about.
My camera is a point and shoot. It has good macro capabilities for its class but does not allow for much in the way of lens changes. I am currently experimenting with it to see if I want to pursue nature photography more and invest in a better camera some time in the future.
You make a good point about pixelation. I’ll look into that more.
Liz, this is quite an effort, with a 16mm lens. That wide lens means either you cropped this drastically or you had the lens within inches of the butterfly. I shoot butterflies at all times of the day. They are much more active and easier to find when it’s warm. Yes, the lighting changes what and sometimes how you shoot, but there’s no reason to restrict when you’re out having fun. With skittish creatures a longer lens avoids spooking them. While there are no absolute rules in photography, it’s usually best to not have other things overlapping with the sharp areas of your insect and leaving a bit of space between the subject and the frame edge. Macro is great because you can find small subjects anywhere.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, @Mark_Seaver. I did have the lens quite close and also cropped a bit. This little sulfur was amazingly cooperative and fun to hang out with. I would love to have a better camera and a longer lens I can attach to it some day. But for now, I must make do with my point and shoot.
Thanks for the reminder on not having objects overlapping with my subject. I’m trying to keep that in mind when I’m composing shots out in the field and definitely getting better results. And I understand more and more why some images, like this, don’t quite work.
Being able to find small scenes and small subjects anywhere and at any time of day is one of the reasons I also love macro.
You’ve got quite a bit of reach with the zoom lens in your camera so you could do macro with it if you want. What I mean is that you can get a frame-filling shot from farther away which keeps the bugs from flying or hopping off. Like this tiger beetle with an ant for lunch -
@Kris_Smith Yes, I get that and it’s one of the many reasons why I would love to have a camera that can take a zoom lens. It would also allow me to take better photos of birds, which is another passion of mine. My current camera is pretty good at macro (and would be even better with a tripod so I can stack), but I have to get really close. With my current set-up, I have better luck with subjects that don’t walk or fly away.
That’s a great photo of a tiger beetle. Love the color!
