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Skipper

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted August 18, 201247 views6 comments

I was trying to take some bee pictures today as there are a lot of them (both #'s and species) in our garden. But this skipper kept flitting around the flowers so I decided to take one of him too. Turned out to be the best of the day. Not a great image but I'm improving which is encouraging. I lucked out with this and got a nice view of his curled up tongue. I think it's called the proboscis. Everyhting moves so fast I just had to shoot and move on to the next shot without much regard to composition and playing with exposure. The biggest problem with this photo is the large area of brightness in the LLC and to a lesser extent the dark patch to the right of the skipper. Couldn't figure out how to adjust a small portion of the photo, so posted as is. Comments and critiques welcome.

Tech info

Canon 60D with EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, USM
1/1600th at f/5.6, and ISO 400
handheld
cropped to about 50% of original

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Joel DeYoung on August 19, 2012 at 10:40 AM

Nice catch Peter,

You've already given yourself a good critique on your photo. You have done a good job getting the subject in focus and sharp.
The colors look good also. Now it's time to focus on background control as you already know.
Keep it up, you're on your way.

Registered on July 12, 2009, 92 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on August 19, 2012 at 7:20 PM

Peter, your own critique is on the money, so I'll just add a couple other points. The skipper itself came out really good - nice pose (especially with the exposed, curled proboscis), excellent detail, nice colorful perch. I am not sure what you meant by not being able to adjust a small portion. Do you mean cropping? The detail is so good that you could certainly get away with some cropping.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on August 19, 2012 at 7:21 PM

The flower and the skipper look very good, nice sharpness and detail. The curled proboscis is a good catch. The big challenge is to get closer so you're using more of the frame. If you're using Lightroom, Photoshop, or Elements to process your pictures, you should be able to burn in (darken) the llc area with a brush.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on August 22, 2012 at 11:53 AM

Wonderful detail and beautiful color. All the nits have been picked in your own critique so I can just enjoy your capture. Nicely done

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Carolyn Derstine on August 22, 2012 at 12:12 PM

Your capture of the skipper and flower looks quite good, Peter. The background still needs working on as you know. Getting closer to your subject would help. Were you as close as you could be with that lens? Also shooting vertical may have worked better for this image. However, with the image you have now, I would think you could make an even tighter crop. I'm thinking a vertical crop cutting out much of the light and dark problem areas you mentioned. :Possibly running the burning tood (set for highlights) over the light areas would help also. We have lots of skippers too and this is a great shot of one! Love the capture of the curled tongue.

Registered on February 16, 2011, 610 Posts, 3684 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on August 22, 2012 at 11:23 PM

That skipper is really sharp, Peter, and the background behind it highlights it perfectly. As for the improvements you said you would like to make, there are lots of tools at your disposal, including some I don't think anyone mentioned yet -- the various selection tools that let isolate a certain part of the image to change (as well as masks and brushes if you use layers). Selecting parts of an image to work on -- especially if you know how to feather the edges -- will open new choices to take control of your processing.

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments