The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Spring is the heavy shooting season for me and sometimes I have so many keepers that I can’t get to them all. Things have slowed a bit so I’m gong back through some of the overlooked shots and mining for good images. I was able to get pretty close to this painted lady as it worked over a stand of cone flowers and managed to get this up close view with a nice BG. >=))>
Specific Feedback
My default ISO for most of my work is 400 but I was hand holding a number of these shots so I wanted more SS. I don’t recall if I shot this on a tripod or freehand but I’m pretty pleased with the plane of focus and sharpness. Your thoughts?
Technical Details
Sony A7rIII
Sony FE 70-200 f2.8 GM-II, 2xTC @ 388mm
ISO 1600, 1/250 @ f16
Critique Template
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Breathtaking sharpness, Bill. A very fresh butterfly on a good, contrasting perch. My only suggestion would be to add a small amount of canvas to left and right sides, which should be easy, if you like. Yep, a soothing BG too. A fine shot.
@Shirley_Freeman , @Mike_Friel , @Diane_Miller Thanks for your comments and critiques. I thought I might add a little more context. I got two frames with this comp trying to get the plane of focus just right and the butterfly filling the frame. This was the sharper of the two but the tip of the antennae closest to the edge was clipped just a little. I let the AI expand feature have a go at it and it reproduced the tip perfectly. I know I could go a bit wider but again I’m reverting to my old film ways of trying to fill the frame completely. Old dogs have a hard time learning new tricks. >=))>
After thinking about @Shirley_Freeman’s comment about the eye I decided to revisit the exposure and decided to boost it overall about .3 stops. Better? >=))>
Bill, as a long time fan of filling the frame (from many years shooting slides), I say you got this one beautifully. Your sharpness on the BF is excellent. I slightly prefer the darker, slightly more colorful background of the original, so I wonder about dodging just the BF rather than what looks like an overall tone lift. The dodging works especially well on the upper wing.
Bill, I like what it did for the BF, but to me the top left area in the BG is starting to compete with the subject. I had originally thought that the eye was all that needed brightening, but I think it really improved the BF so maybe do like @Mark_Seaver said and lighten the BF and leave the BG like it was.
>=))>