The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This beauty was recognized as a separate species in 2014, based on DNA evidence. It’s fairly common in my part of Arizona. This is a large butterfly, and one might think that it’s easier to photograph in flight. But I’ve almost never met a flying butterfly, dragonfly, or damselfly that’s actually easy.
Composition is an elusive thing in this kind of photography. When I finally manage to get a properly exposed, sharp image of a flying bug, I often have to take the composition that comes with it. Of course, postprocessing remains important. The main thing is to separate the subject from the background in a natural way, without fringing.
Surprisingly, maybe my main challenge in photographing butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies in flight is coping with the huge number of frames from any given shooting session. When the camera is running at 126 frames per second, one runs up the total number super fast. Fortunately, OM Systems has some software that helps me manage mountains of images.
Specific Feedback
All comments are welcome and appreciated.
Technical Details
OM-1 Mk2 150mm 1/5000 F7.1 ISO 5000
Postprocessing was all done in Afinity Photo 2, which has been my favorite general-purpose processing software for some time now.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Russ: Exceptional flight shot and a testimony to good equipment in the hands of an expert user. My only comment is regarding the exposure, which seems to me to be about 1/2 -3/4 of a stop overexposed. The yellows are blown a bit and the wings should be closer to black. Here’s my quick and dirty edit. Back to you. >=))>
Well done for catching the butterfly in flight so sharply. Fast shutter speed essential, tho’ I think your high ISo maybe caused the brightness which Bill has tamed, making the shot even better. I love the OM-1, especially as it’s so light! Great for stacking too, when the insect is still. Well taken.
Nice catch, Russ. Butterflies tend to avoid straight lines, so catching one in flight is quite an accomplishment. I agree that the exposure seemed a bit high.While the background isn’t ideal with the mottled light, you’re probably not going to catch these in the air during the golden hour.
VERY tough to catch an insect in flight, so you did very well here. Bill’s exposure correction is an improvement.
I couldn’t imagine 120 FPS - it’s all I can do to cull from my A1’s 30 FPS for birds.
Nice image!
Thanks to all of you for such interesting comments. I am a brand new member of NPN, but I can already see why it is such a valuable resource.
You’re right about the yellow. It was over saturated, which it was a clear goof by me.
I’m still thinking about the black in the butterfly’s wings. I’m used to the inky blacks shown in most butterfly photographs, but I’m beginning to think that there is a lot more nuance than I realized. Recently, with dark butterflies I’ve been paying more attention to the black regions And, what do you know. There’s more subtle detail in there than I had appreciated.. I probably overdid it in this case.
