Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The name according to iNaturalist, anyway. I need to visit this category more often-some incredible images are being presented. I should try to branch out and try things other than birds.
Specific Feedback
Any thoughts appreciated.
Technical Details
Canon R5; 100-500 at 254 mm; 1/1000, f10; ISO 800
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Wonderful detail and look at that little face!
Yes, please come over to Maco too ! Really exceptional images in EVERY category.
I find that birds, while my first love, are not always around - but flowers, trees, and macro stuff ARE always around!
The green seems a bit bright, and competes with the 'fly, so might be toned down a bit.
A fine image, Allen -
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Lovely capture, with a great pose and wonderful DOF and BG. But I have mixed feelings about the warm color cast. It’s not as good as working on the raw file but here’s a quick illustration – I did a curves adjustment layer and used the neutral eyedropper to click on the white spots. That made it look too high in contrast so I brightened it a bit. In raw that would be much better dealt with using shadows and highlights.
I do prefer the warmer color in the center BG areas but that can be tweaked with Selective Color for blues and cyans or blended in with a layer mask
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WHAT a fine capture. The subject, its angle, the environment, everything about it. I can’t recall a butterfly image that I’ve liked better.
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Much in common between bird and butterfly snapping - though the equipment is often different. But you used the telephoto so well here, Allen, especially to get decent sharpness all round for this angle. I like @Diane_Miller 's treatment of the warm cast; as she says, the BG needs adjusting after that. And as @Sandy_Richards-Brown points out, when one group disappears (in my case butterflies), we need to search for another (birds in the Korean winter). Where possible, I try to get a top-side and lateral shot too; but Limenitis species can be real nippy. This one has amazing pale brown wing-tips, if you ever go back to it.
Thanks, Diane. I like what you did. Those whites really pop now. I’ll try to rework it myself.
Allen, please get some more of these Western insects. Diane’s processing got the whites much more to my liking. Those white patches on the wings glow and the pose shows both upper and lower sides of the wing. Nice and sharp, and the comp is very nice…Jim
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Allen: Terrific capture as already noted and I’ll ditto the positive comments regarding @Diane_Miller adjustments. Really good use of your long lens and a fine result. >=))>
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Thanks to all who commented. I really liked Diane’s changes to let the white in the wings shine. I also played around with the background in an attempt to remove some of the distracting elements.
Yes, much better! Now, having a second look, the darker areas in the BG are more noticeable, especially the two on the right edge. I wouldn’t so much remove them as make them lighter and with a greenish cast, to blend in. But removing would be an option. Hmmm – remove them on a top layer and drop its opacity??
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I like your repost very much, Allen. It is a beautiful butterfly, and I love the angle he posed for you. Macro is a wonderful category in my opinion because in the insect world especially, it is like another universe. When I pull up a tiny creature on my screen I am always amazed at the details in it that I would never have otherwise realized. I love shooting birds too, but they aren’t close by (except a few small backyard birds) for me, so I usually have to travel. Macro can be in your own backyard. Telephoto lens do good for subjects like butterflies. Spiders and such you will need a macro lens. Looking forward to more of your shots. I hope I can get to the Botanical Gardens soon where I am a member. Seems like one thing or another that is taking my time. This weekend I spent most of it trying to get my internet back up, so now I am playing catch up on here with viewing and critiquing.
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