A perfect landing

Gallery: FloraPosted February 8, 2013111 views9 comments

I took this picture last summer while out on a walk.looking for inspiration. This butterfly accomodated me. She stayed only very briefly so I did not have much time to compose the shot but I do like the effect of the contrasting colors. Thanks for looking and I would appreciate any feedback.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on February 8, 2013 at 10:06 AM

Beth, this is a fine look at this Tiger Swallowtail and the purple blooms complement the butterfly's colors. You did a good job of controlling the focal plane to get the entire bf sharp. I also like the reality of a less than perfect specimen. I'm always fascinated and astonished at how tattered butterflies can get. It's a real testament to the resilience of life. This image seems grainy, is it a large crop? I'm slightly bothered by the sideways orientation of the flowers and think that the bf is too centered. Both of these could be improved by cropping from the right to eliminate the sky.

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

Comment posted by Eirini Pajak on February 8, 2013 at 11:44 AM

Nice! I have not been able to ever catch one of these as they have never landed long enough for me! I agree about cropping out the tiles on the right, and if you have it, adding a little more to the top & bottom. It's amazing this BF can even still fly with that enormous rip on it's wing! Looks like it had some sort of narrow escape!

Registered on December 13, 2011, 216 Posts, 1671 Comments

Comment posted by Bob&Charly Nelson on February 8, 2013 at 1:36 PM

Great composition and color Beth. Well seen and captured.
Bob

Registered on October 27, 2005, 289 Posts, 4202 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Bartz on February 8, 2013 at 2:37 PM

Well done. I always find it interesting how this butterflies get their wings so beat up and still keep flying.

Registered on May 12, 2007, 56 Posts, 92 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on February 8, 2013 at 7:01 PM

Beth:

Welcome to NPN and to Flora Gallery.

A very colorful first post in this gallery. The yellow and purple makes a perfect example of complementary color harmonies that Alain Briot describe in his recent series. BTW I see you like to use strong colors in your gallery so this may be your personal style. Mark has given some good suggestions about composition. Another idea you might want to try (if this is indeed is large crop) is to rotate the image a little so that the butterfly does not seem to cut the image into two.

Look forward to seen more of your images here.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on February 9, 2013 at 7:40 PM

Beth: Welcome to NPN and to the finest Flora gallery on the planet. We call critters encroaching on our flowers party crashers and this is a great one. I agree with the crop suggestion for the right side and then I would rotate it 90° clockwise to a portrait orientation. Great to have you aboard and looking forward to more.>=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on February 11, 2013 at 2:41 PM

Beautiful complementary colors! I agree with the crop and rotate recommendations.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on February 13, 2013 at 9:47 AM

This one really popped out in the thumbnail Beth, like the frame filling color.
I can't really add to any of the other suggestions for improvement.
Nice shot as posted

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on February 15, 2013 at 10:00 PM

Hi Beth

Very well done. Great color and good detail. agree about the crop on the right

Albert Darmo

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments