Another butterfly

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Canon ElanII, Tamron 28-200, Fuji Superia 400, existing light.

-- Larry Pizzi (pizzi@mindspring.com), July 10, 2000

Answers

I love the composition. Look at how it leads the eye right across the picture and then stops right on the butterfly. Their is a circular flow in those upper left leaves that creates some tension keeping my eye going round and round up there...but I believe this is one of those cases where you can throw out the tradition tension rules ("tension rules?, I might have made that up"). The image works for me.

How sharp is the original? This appears almost sharp...but that could be the scan...or is it the Tamron...or poss the 400 ISO film...or perhaps just some butterfly movement.

I also like the how the ambient light sets the wing apart from the background in the upper right....however, it does not do the same on the rest of the picture. Consider using a fine grain slide film (Velvia or Provia)paired with off camera fill flash. This should provide a sharp image, retain texture, and set the wing apart from the background.

I am however being overly picky, I do really admire the shot.

-- Mark LaGrange (mark.lagrange@nml.com), July 10, 2000.


Thanks for the comments.

The original is noticeably sharper. I'm using a small HP scanner and have had to sacrifice some of the sharpness to file size. I'm pretty new at the scanning and reducing business, so any advice is welcome.

-- Larry Pizzi (pizzi@mindspring.com), July 11, 2000.


Colors are great; the butterfly looks sharp, as do the leaves, but the flower itself is a little fuzzy. Probably had to sacrifice DOF for shutter speed before he took off, am I right?

This crop seems really tight. Could you scan the uncropped shot and post a link for it? Also, watch out for dust in the scan - note the light particles above the right wing and in other spots. I can usually live with one or two dust motes and just clone-stamp 'em out in Photoshop, but if I see this many of them I usually get the dust off my slide/print and rescan.

-- Christian Deichert (torgophile@aol.com), July 11, 2000.


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