too lazy to move

too lazy to move, originally uploaded by Jyothiprasad Buddha.

It allowed me turn on my camera, zoom closer, turn to manual mode, focus it manually, set fast shutter speed, high aperture and click the shutter. Nearly 10 seconds for whole of this process. What else should I call this butterfly, except for a lazy butterfly?

Following is the feedback I got...

Rαtαtoskr says:

Hi Jyothiprasad,

First of all you need to think about who you's supposed to view this, ie is it only here on flickr and are most ppl going to see it in this size, or are you planning on printing it. The rule of thumb is that the larger you print, the less tightly cropped it needs to be, in combination with the distance it will usually be viewed at.

In this photo the butterfly disappears in all of the rest since it has the same colors, which is why cropping it will make it more visible.
The background is too distracting and needs to be much more OOF.
Any living creature should in most cases be shot from a slight front angle unless it's just for identification purposes.
I find using a tele lens great for a lot of larger insects like these as you can keep your distance. A tele with an extension tube i perfect for this. You get close up shots at a comfortable distance.

gustaffo89 says:

I agree with the above - there's too much detail in the background and too many distractions. A butterfly like this has a wing pattern that is designed to blend in with it's natural surroundings, so you really have to work hard to make it leap out. Ideally the branch on the right and the butterfly should be nicely in focus with everything else just a coloured blur. Definitely a tighter crop too - ideally I think you should get rid of those other insects on the plant as well, as they are distracting from your main subject.

I also question your overall angle - we can see a lot of the underside of the wing but not much of the top, where I think the best pattern and detailing probably lies.


Jyothiprasad Buddha says:

thanks Rαtαtoskr and gustaffo89. it is surprising that I didn't find the background that distracting till you both pointed it, after you mentioned it, the more I see, the more i'm being distracted by the background and the details in it.

I'll try this photo lens thing, when I upgrade from a point and shoot to dslr camera. as of now, I'm a novice photographer.


gustaffo89 says:

Sounds good, again this is a situation where a DSLR will always do the scene more justice. The main thing is to keep the aperture low - that will ensure a shallow DOF.

halpinland says:

definitely go the DSLR route if you like macro or insect photography - the major commonality with P&S and other small sensor cameras is that their depth of field is naturally very big. An f/5.6 would be f/16 on a DSLR and so on. Being able to sufficiently isolate a subject and blur the background is one of the many strengths you will see after an upgrade :-)