2008 was sort of a year of butterflies for me, with tons of them appearing on my Butterfly bushes, including some I'd never seen before. This is one from October, when this beautifully colorful butterfly (also known as an American Painted Lady) arrived to brighten a fall day. This is not an incredibly original shot and I would have liked to have the tip of the one wing in the focal area, but I did get a lot of detail and color, I liked the rather dramatic light, she's looking right at me, and it is certainly one of my favorite shots from last year. It reminds me of the many hours I spent in front of the bush with the camera, chasing butterflies.
Must have had one of the extension tubes on but I don't remember which one ;-)
PP - cropped, levels, cloned out a few stray bright/dark spots where I didn't like them, dodged the butterfly, burnt a little on/around her eye and wing tip, blurred background more, shifted greens greener and desaturated a little, increased overall saturation, colored dead flowers purpley, resized, sharpened, blurred background again, added border.
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Excellent macro.....terrific colour & composition. My only niggling thing would be that I'd like to see just the teensiest bit more sharpness. Lovely image, nonetheless. 7
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