[Rob Barron]

I went out to Kingston Lacy house and gardens in Dorset this morning mainly to see the beautiful carpet of snowdrops. However, I got fortunate with a visit from this Red Admiral who let me take a few shots before he fluttered off elsewhere.

I have to say, the snowdrops here have almost no detail and seem quite burnt out. In the original I can see the veins on the petals but the compression seems to have lost a lot of it so the impact isn't quite as strong as the printed version but hey, that's life

[RichW]

Now you didn't put that butterfly in the fridge before you took this shot did you Rob

On a slightly more serious note, like the picture, you've captured the flutterby well. The flowers don't look too bad at all, on this monitor at least in fact the exposure is great throughout.

[Soupdragon]

It's a great picture marred only by what looks like too much contrast!

[skipper954]

Fraid this doesn't float my boat, Rob. It looks to me like the butterfly was stuck on the picture of the snowdrops. She seems not be belong there.

skip

[Rob Barron]

Well perhaps you don't get red Admirals or snowdrops in Florida then Skip! That photo has not been touched in that respect at all. It was a big surprise as we are a month or more too early for Red Admirals but with the mild weather it has led to some caterpillars to pupate too early. I just hope we don't have a long cold snap or it will kill them all off and we'll have few butterflies come the real spring.

So, whilst is is rare to see this butterfly on this flower, it was very happy to be suckling on them and enjoying the nectar or whatever they get. It most definitely belongs there in this case! I am afraid I don't get your assessment of the picture as such. Either you think I stuck a butterfly on a snowdrop (not the most logical flower to add a butterfly to which in a sense qualifies the picture!) or you think a picture is somehow invalid because the butterfly is not seen on that flower very often.

I am quite happy with the composition (I got several with the butterfly pointing downwards as it worked its way down the flower to the grass but they didn't 'look right' so I chose this one which shows full wings, a slight angle for interest and the only slight downside being that it is a touch more central than I would normally go for but that isn't disastrous.

My point is just I would like to know is this not a good picture because of something I as the photographer could have done differently (I can learn from that) or just because you aren't into butterflies on flowers (tough, that doesn't help me learn at all!)

I really would like to know more as I posted for feedback that would help me learn.

Cheers,
Rob

[skipper954]

Rob....I love butterflies on flowers. Maybe it seems like the butterfly is stuck on the image because she is in such sharp focus and the flowers are a bit blurry. Plus I don't get a sense of the butterfly actually ON the flower, DOING SOMETHING. To me the composition seems wrong for those reasons. I hope that makes some sense to someone!

Anyone else see what I am talking about or am I out in left field? (That is a baseball term meaning that I am way to the edge of the bell curve )

skip

[Charlotte]

I see what you mean skip, + I think it's because you can't actually see the head of the flower on which the butterfly is sitting. The 'placed on' effect is caused, I think, by the outline of the butterfly being so sharp against the very blurred BG, + is not helped by the high contrast which soupdragon mentioned. I do like the pic, but can see these points of view too

[silver]

to me the cropping is too tight against the lower part of the butterfly and the bottom of the frame, I do also get the feeling the butterfly was 'stuck on' I thought you might have PS'd them together like the locus image at first.

Sil

[jonnynation]

Love the pic! May I ask how you get your borders? Do you use PhotoShop or something? They look great! (Sorry, am a novice here)! J

[Markulous]

Hmmm, can certainly see why there's suggestions of looking stuck on. Think it's a combination of things which in isolation wouldn't necessarily impact but here are reinforcing the feeling: poor DOF, high contrast, a touch oversharpened (maybe) but mainly that there is nothing to connect flowers to Red Admiral. Butterfly needs something to relate to flowers; whether it be to face them, angled to them or in amongst them.

You say you've others - any that alter any of the above as I'd love to see a shot that sat comfortably with me of a Red Admiral on Snowdrops, if only for it's unusuality?!

[Rob Barron]

Unusuality? Is that really a word? Just cos you're crew doesn't mean you can start making up your own words Mark

I will get a couple of other pictures up on here for no other reason than I feel a bit peeved that Silver is still questioning my integrity despite me already assuring people that this is genuine and not a PS combo. I am going to find one with the butterfly half out of focus in a useless composition just so I can make my point! (Now added below)

I am a bit puzzled about this 'Poor DofF' comment as the flowers next to the butterfly are as sharp as the butterfly (they're on the same plane) and the INTENTION was to get low depth of field so that the butterfly stood out nicely. I know the traditional shot (cliche?) is of a butterfly sat on top of a flower head (got plenty of those!) but it needs to be borne in mind that this is a macro shot. The butterfly is way bigger than the drooping head of a snowdrop, each head here being about 1 - 1.5 cms in length! So having him sat on top of a head (why would he anyway when the head is pointing downwards and not upwards?) is definitely more likely to be a combo job.

If this had been in a butterfly farm where I could sit and take a thousand shots in an afternoon, I would maybe look for a different composition if Mr RA played ball. This was out in a field of snowdrops on a frosty day with me lying prone on the ground getting a cricked neck looking through the viewfinder using a macro lens on its widest aperture (to deliberately blur the flowers behind!) and manual focus whilst still seeking to control the light and avoid over-exposure with all of about 15-20 seconds max before the RA fluttered off elsewhere never to be seen again (by me at least).

I'll go find a naff picture just to prove to the doubters that it is at least genuine.

Cheers,
Rob

First rubbish pic:


2nd rubbish pic:


Please don't critique these two, I know they're rubbish, that's why I posted them, to prove the other one is not just a stick on job!

[silver]

it does look 'stuck on' - I didn't say you did stick it on afterwards

I might take a trip down there tomorrow to take a look @ the snowdrops, ours are not out here yet

Sil

PS, it might be snow tomorrow so the forecasters say so who knows

[Rob Barron]

I tell you what, if I had stuck it on, I wouldn't just admit it, I'd boast about it! That would be a perfect bit of cutting out to get the feelers as good as that

[skipper954]

Rob - I don't doubt for a minute that it is genuine. I am sure you know that. My point is that for the reasons mentioned in the above posts, it doesn't LOOK genuine.

I applaud your perspicacity in getting that shot.

skip