Backlit butterfly - work for you?

[Tobyh]

Hi all,

Been out early snapping some butterflies / damsels and wanted to try something a little different.

What do people think of this shot? Does it work for you? I've left in the foliage at bottom as I'm not sure. This is already cropped a little and have done some exposure work on the butterfly itself.

Thanks for any critique.


TobyH

[squishy]

Personally, i think that is a fantastic shot. The backlighting creates a nice effect for me .

[Fourwings]

Works for me Toby, its a great image and very different, I like backlit subjects.
I think if the image we mine I'd loose the bit of foliage towards the bottom left as it takes the eye away from the Butterfly.

[jerryh]

Hi Toby,
I like it very much. Not only the backlight, but the dew makes the whole thing sparkle - lovely.


If it were my shot, I'd change 3 things.

Firstly, I'd do a levels adjustment to bring the dynamic range up and show off that sparkle!

Next, I'd think about the framing. The stem the butterfly's on is already tall and thin, so I'd go even more radical with the crop, making the picture tall and thin as well.

Lastly, I think the separate piece of foliage is a distraction. I tried to crop it out, but it's in just the wrong place for the framing I was looking for. A little bit of it would still be in the bottom corner - so I'd remove it.

Like this:


That's just my ideas - the shot's already lovely as it is
Jerry

[squishy]

maybe a bit more left on the left. dont want to crop to close in the direction its looking

[jerryh]

Yeah - I see what you mean
Jerry

[Tobyh]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

The levels definitely helped with being tweaked and agree that the piece of foliage is a distraction, i'll have another go at those next week some time.

The crop is quite extreme I think, although it almost works as a sort of vertical panoramic Perhaps when i've removed the foliage the urge to crop it so much will be negated, i'll give that a try and see.

Appreciate all the comments so far

TobyH

[jerryh]

I think I probably am something of an extreme cropper

Jerry

[squishy]

it would take a while, but it might be possible to clone out that bit of stalk on the bottom left

[Ukwildlifeo]

Works for me - the backlitght show the details such as hairs and dew better