My first time posting. Taken with Nikon CP 950, 1/84 @ f 4.0 in macro mode. Original is somewhat sharper, but I'm also new at reducing size while maintaining quality. Any suggestions are welcome.

-- Larry Pizzi (pizzi@mindspring.com), June 29, 2000

Answers

Larry, I think this could be improved by getting a little lower. We would see less leaf and more of those beautiful wings. As it is, I kind of feel like I'm standing *over* and dominating the little thing instead of observing or sharing an experience with it.

-- John Thurston (John_Thurston@my-deja.com), June 30, 2000.

Not bad for a first post. If there's one suggestion I could make, it would be to simplify the background. Imagine what this image would look like with a mostly-uniform dark green or black background; just the butterfly and branch would be identifiable.

It's difficult when trying to get a moving subject, but really think about what's *behind* your subject before pressing the shutter. When shooting a specific subject like this, try making everything else as undistracting as possible. The standard suggestions are to make the background 1) plain and 2) darker than the subject. In this shot, the complexity of the background and that bright spot on the left really draw the viewer's eyes away from the butterfly.

Keep up the effort. I look forward to seeing more of your photographs.

-- Jeremy Pursley (wincomp@acceleration.net), June 30, 2000.

I don't mind the high angle of view. You may find that photographing butterflies is challanging to depth of focus unless you are perpendicualar to their wings.

...and ditto Jeremy's comments regarding background.

-- Mark LaGrange (mark.lagrange@nml.com), July 04, 2000.