Updated Photo
Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
We were at the desert museum in August and butterflies really start coming around in later September. I found this one on a nice flower. I look for good color balance with the subject and this flower did well.
Specific Feedback
I did a 1:1 crop with the subject moved to the right. Background busy but I tried to weaken it with lowering the brightness and saturation.
Technical Details
r7 rf 100-500 at 500mm 1/250 f/16 ISO 1000 Used Photo AI for noise.
Dean, I didn’t realize it was so late in the year before the butterflies showed up out there. They are about gone here I think. Hard to say because I don’t have anything that really attracts them now.
I think the 1:1 works nice. The BG isn’t that bad. That tiny little brighter spot in the top left corner keeps drawing my eye. Maybe a vignette would take care of that. Just a thought. I wish the lighting wasn’t so harsh, but I am sure if you have no choice in the time of day, as most gardens don’t open during the sweet light. Sometimes I have been able to shadow the subject with my body, and that helps. You were using a 500mm, so you probably couldn’t get that close either. I do like the color balance of the BF and the flower.
Nice, Dean. I like the butterfly and it’s perch. You did a fine job on the background, though now that I saw Shirley’s post, that light spot in the upper left does draw my eye-an easy fix with cloning or your choice of other tools. The harsh light is a pain, but you might be able to mitigate it a bit in the your RAW editor by pulling the shadows up and the highlights down quite a bit-software can really work some magic these days.
Thanks for the feedback @Shirley_Freeman and @Dennis_Plank. I missed that top left corner. I did a highlight curves adjustment.
Oh yes, Dean. I like the updated version. Well done!
Nice job on the adjustment, Dean.
Nice find, but the harsh light wasn’t your friend. Do you have adjustments in the raw processor to lighten shadows? I often need to do that even in shaded subjects. It combines well with darkening highlights and then increasing exposure a bit.
For shooting in full sun, a diffuser or reflector can work wonders, and combining the two can give magic light, but that usually requires an assistant.
