Taken on a blistering hot summer day (Australia, so yes, very much summer here) in the Mt Cootha Botanical Gardens, Brisbane.
My first trip out to try and play with insects and I was happy enough with the result, though it could be improved I am sure.
I ended up with 3 nice photos of this little guy and it was a hard choice as to which one to submit.
Unsharpen mask, might have tweaked levels (I forget) and that was it. This didn't even need cropping.
There was a large element of luck with this one. I didn't realise until I got home how well the pink worked as a background to the wings, though I'd love to be able to say it was planned that way ;)
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Good job ...my question for such shots is always is it a real butterfly/moth ? Also think the picture would be better if the butterfly was more in focus like the bud it is on.
I see lots of flower and butterfly shots but most are not composed as nicely as this one. I would like to see a little sharper focus on the head, but the shallow DOF works very nicely in this shot.
Absolutely beautiful. The cool blues of the butterfly show wonderfully against the warmer pinks and oranges of the flowers. The green background is very subtle indeed. Your limited DOF works just perfectly in blurring it out. I think this is a really strong image.
Isn't this a Danaeid? They usually appear to have 4 legs like this with one short pair tucked up tight. Also, Papilionids are sort of furry-looking. (This is Magnus' biologist houseguest writing.)
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