I shot this pic (and about 30 more that were less impressive) at the GC today. Never could get a shot of him with wings spread though...when these guys decide to open their wings, they are FAST. He let me get within about 8 inches of him though before he'd flutter about in protest of me interrupting his lunch ;-) Or is he a she? I haven't a clue.
-Julie
Julie that is a glorious picture of a very small butterfly. Your butterfly is the male of the Common Blue Polyommatus icarus
kennedyh, you are so cool! Is there anything in the animal kingdom you can't figure out within a few minutes? :-)
edited to say, I was so amazed at how quickly you IDed this little one that I completely forgot to say "THANK YOU!" for the nice compliment :-)
This message was edited Nov 4, 2004 11:42 PM
Here is another compliment, to both you!
It's beautiful...so dainty looking. Look how it's antennae are pointing down.
And, the back lighting.
I noticed all of those things too (obviously none of which I coulc control...he decided where he was gonna sit in relation to me and the sun...and he decided where to put his antennae!) :-), but my favorite little detail is how the curvy little line under his eye makes it look like he's smiling :-)
-Julie
Julie did you do any sharping on the picture? I think you got a great shot. That shows something . you said you took about 30 shots, ok, you got one great one . That's a great average. This was one shot remember Mr. tongue?
Wow, this "sharpening" is done how? Julie, I liked yours too. Isn't DG such a blessing?
It is an image sharping tool that is in most editing programs. It rounds the edges of the pixels giving a more sharpened image. My point on my shot was that I turned saw the guy and shot one take. That is not how most good pictures are gotten though. This was a just happen to be there. I get alot of those. LOLOLOL!!!!!!! Kind of like this.
Monterey, no I didn't sharpen the image at all. I got 5 others that were just like the one I posted in quality....ever so slightly different angles though. This is the only one that had the "smile" ;-).
The photo below is what the pic looked like after I used the sharpen option in PhotoShop. I preferred it without the sharpening.
-Julie
I have 1 to 100 slider and I use it mostly to bring up detail not to make the picture stark or unreal.It isn't a one button process, I tune it up sometimes to enhance not detract. This was to bring up the color as the flash bounced off the feeder it highlighted the birds feathers to give a color show I don't see with these guys much.
I understand what you're saying, but in Adobe PS, I only have "sharpen" and "sharpen more". I feel that the "sharpen" option typically doesn't show much difference at all that I can tell if the shot is already a fairly clear shot. "Sharpen more" just goes way overboard and makes the photo look metallic. If there wasn't good lighting (either too much or nto enough) I sometimes adjust the brightness/contrast for a better view, but that's it.
-Julie
My controls are all 1 to 100 it makes for great adjustments or very little. What I do is try to show what I saw with my mind's eye .That is not always what the camera picks up.I see about 210 degrees and it's all in 3D and moving. That is not what my camera sees. 47degrees ,2D, stopped ,yet magnified closeup different world. It's blending the two diverse worlds that makes the task fun and exciting. Take and stop a picture of life and make it into art.
I like your reasoning, Rich.
Julie, that is a wonderful picture. And I know how you felt when he let you get so close to take the picture. Maybe those little guys have a smaller 'do not enter' space. I end up holding my breath. ))
I got good shots of a Western Pygmy Blue because the little tiny guy let me get the camera closer to him than any of the larger flutterbys will allow. It really looked a lot like yours.
And I learned his name, cause Kennedy told me what it was. ]:~))
Great Photo.
Thanks Blooms and MsMaati! :-) It seems all butterflies here in Israel are just WAY more skittish than the ones I took pics of in Oklahoma. We went to the butterfly exhibit at the Tulsa Zoo back in 2000 and I got some really great close-up shots with my 35mm (will have to get around to scanning them). Or perhaps it's just that the larger butterflies I'm used to in Oklahoma actually land on something more thanonce every blue moon ... and stay there for at least several seconds before flying off again. It seems to me that the butterflies here are in virtually perpetual motion. I feel lucky just to SEE a butterfly land on something (wings closed) for ay length of time at all. To actually be able to focus my camera on one and get a shot is to me just astounding here. LOL
-Julie
monterey, which photo editing program do you use? I am wanting to purchase one and I never caught the name of yours. I like the idea of having a slider bar for sharpening instead of a one touch type. I have a Roxio program now but I really want something that is more advanced. Thanks.
It's old, picture it express 2000 by microsoft. I like it but I can't do saturation or sharping, hue etc except over the whole picture not just a part. I am going with adobe elements 3 I think they have all the good stuff. You can pull up an explaination of it on their website. Good Luck!
