A faerie

[Dazyl]

I just posted this image into the "Share Your Shots" thread, because I really really like it. However, it's getting some odd feedback elsewhere, so I decided maybe I'm missing something. (Possibly one of those cases where I love it, but subjectivity is blinding me?)



The butterfly was in constant motion, never once stopping to rest, so I shot relatively fast (1/250th), at f11 (for some carry on the depth). There is some motion on the wing, but other than that, what do y'all think? Am I not seeing some other obvious problems?

[velvet4269]

Okay, I'm in no way a professional, and still have issues with my own photos (but I'm my own harshest critic), but here's my $.02. The first thing I notice is the purple flowers. They're so bright, and out of focus, they're a bit distracting. As are the leaf tips coming down off the top, but that can be resolved by a tighter crop.

[clockdoc]

I think the contrast of the fuzzy purple flowers competes too much with your darker subject. The background tens to be busy as well with the green and red tones. You captured the body of the butterfly nicely and 1/250 should have been enough to stop its wings. Did you shoot several exposures to hopefully get one timed at the peak of motion? You were shooting at the 200mm focal length but how far away? Perhaps backing up a bit and cropping from a smaller image would have allowed better depth and stopping power.

[Dazyl]

Okay.... so it appears to be the flowers that are the problem... Funny how I saw them as framing. (and this is a crop -- took off about 1/3 of the right side and a bit from the top)

Thanks, Lee and velvet4269!

I probably took 50 images in bursts, circling the bush as the butterfly continually moved. Only in the bush itself did the wings slow down enough. (I probably needed closer to 1/1000th to stop those wings; butterflies are fast!) Several of them came out well (imho), but this one was my favorite, so I'm not sure now. Sigh...

Thanks again for your feedback!

[jiminyClickit]

Dazyl,

How much free time do you have? An hour will get you some balance of color and emphasis. Obviously, selecting the butterfly is hardest, but not very time-consuming. It's reapplied over a lightened, unsaturated, blurred b/g. Bloom faerie is standing on is also selected separately to lighten and unsaturate some. A white gradient mask finishes the slight "fantasy" look.
Good material. Is this anything at all what you imagined?