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Treading softly

© Dale Hardin

Treading softly

Uploaded: October 14, 2013

Description

Shutter Speed: 1/1000.00 F-stop: f/7.1
Focal Length: 50.00

Exif: F Number: 7.1, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 1/1000 seconds, Flash: did not fire, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 800, White balance: Auto white balance, FocalLength: 50.00 mm, Model: SLT-A77V

Comments

Pamela K. Barrett October 14, 2013

The framing and the sharpness and the bokeh are superb. An interesting flower also. #1548509

Robert Jensen October 14, 2013

Great capture and I know right where you took this! #10871644

Dale Hardin October 14, 2013

Thank you Pamala.

And Robert, you are correct. I finally got around to checking out the images from that great day I spent with you. #10871944

Elaine Hessler October 14, 2013

Really cool capture! I have never seen a butterfly and flower like that! Where was this? pretty close to perfect to me, but there is something weird going on in the background to the right of the butterfly's head. Does anyone else see it? I am not sure if it is on my end only-it looks like noise, but isn't. If it is only on my end, ignore my comment.

Those colors are great and the butterfly is so sharp I can see the scales on the wings! #10871955

Dale Hardin October 14, 2013

Thanks Elaine. These were shot at a civil war reenactment and I don't remember the name of the park. Robert, can you give me a hand here?

Is the 'weird' the halos around some of the vines in the background? This is a really tight crop and there was some wind movement or they might be from some post processing. Will have to go back to the original and take a look.

time passes....... I checked it out and it is simply how the background looked. Here is the original shot with no processing. #10871979

Dale Hardin October 14, 2013

Thanks Elaine. These were shot at a civil war reenactment and I don't remember the name of the park. Robert, can you give me a hand here?

Is the 'weird' the halos around some of the vines in the background? This is a really tight crop and there was some wind movement or they might be from some post processing. Will have to go back to the original and take a look.

time passes....... I checked it out and it is simply how the background looked. Here is the original shot with no processing. #10871984

Dale Hardin October 14, 2013

Thanks Elaine. These were shot at a civil war reenactment and I don't remember the name of the park. Robert, can you give me a hand here?

Is the 'weird' the halos around some of the vines in the background? This is a really tight crop and there was some wind movement or they might be from some post processing. Will have to go back to the original and take a look.

time passes....... I checked it out and it is simply how the background looked. Here is the original shot with no processing. #10871985

Dale Hardin October 14, 2013

trying again to post photo #10871986

Jeff E Jensen October 14, 2013

Excellent work, Dale!

I guess the upside to your camera being in the shop is that you get to catch up on past work. #10872177

Beth Spencer October 15, 2013

That is a Beautiful Butterfly! Great job on post processing, the focus is right on. #10872360

Dale Hardin October 15, 2013

That's true Jeff, and I found something else. Went on a short shoot with my old camera, the Sony R1, and noticed I did not have to do as much processing as I'd been doing with this camera. So I'm beginning to wonder if it had issues all along that finally got bad enough to require repair?

I had just assumed the issues were due to my unfamiliarity with it. Will find out when it returns, I guess.

Beth, thank you a bunch. In a busy scene like this, I was really thankful for the peaking feature the camera had. #10872464

Peter W. Marks October 15, 2013

And this is why I believe in a Creator not evolution. It is beyond beautiful! #10872535

Dale Hardin October 15, 2013

Thanks so much Peter. I truly appreciate that. #10872628

Michael Kelly level-deluxe October 15, 2013

Very striking Dale. The color combination is wonderful. A real eye grabber. I see nothing to change on this one. Looks like a great one for the wall.

Just a quick note: Sorry I am behind we have had company and I am catching up while they are out for the moment. Also acquired a new camera, 70D but purchased mostly for video use.
#10872677

Dale Hardin October 15, 2013

thanks Mike. Get with us when you have time. Family company is the winner every time. Enjoy. #10872755

Stephen Shoff October 16, 2013

That is pretty phenomenal clarity. I've seen the butterflies before, but not the flowers.

Pretty much everything posted on BP lately has this quasi-"HDR" appearance to it. I'm not sure I'm sold on that. #10873181

Dale Hardin October 16, 2013

Thanks Stephen. If you check out the out of camera shot, you'll see that this is not a quasi-HDR but is the natural way the light reacted on the foliage when this was shot. #10873241

Elaine Hessler October 16, 2013

I took a screen capture and circled the area that looks funny to me. Maybe since it was cropped so much, this is noise, but the weird thing is that it is only in this area. Check it out and let me know what you think it is. Really is a very minor point, but just wondering... #10873351

Kalena Randall October 16, 2013

Only one word describes what I thought when I first saw this.

WOW! #10873394

Dale Hardin October 16, 2013

OK, I see what you mean, Elaine. I opened the original raw file and there is indeed a small bit of noise there. Since this image is cropped to about 100%, it shows up. Just plug your ears and you won't hear it. :o)

Kalena, thank you. By the way, does anyone know what kind of flower this is? Here is another view. #10873593

Debbie E. Payne October 16, 2013

Dale, these are all beautiful. Did you use focus stacking when you took these? #10873660

Memoriee G. Sconce October 16, 2013

Dale beautiful colors and I do see the weird area around the face it just feels funny. The one thing for me is the leaf on the right side of the frame. How about cropping that out I don't know how the crop would work but I think the softness of the leaf is distracting. #10873668

Dale Hardin October 16, 2013

thanks Debbie. No focus stacking. F7 had enough for the butterfly and flower. With a moving subject couldn't have used that anyway.

Memoriee, thank you. I agree on the leaf and I considered taking it out but since I hadn't planned on posting it, was just too lazy to do so. Maybe I'll go ahead any way just for grins. I don't think cropping would work too well, so will try something else. I'll be ba-a-a-ak! #10873725

Dale Hardin October 16, 2013

OK Memoriee. Here is a quickie fix that took about five minutes. Not perfect but takes care of those dead leaves. #10873727

Nikki McDonald level-classic October 16, 2013

Noticed the focus right off, Dale. Fantastic. Passion flower, I think, though I've only ever seen them in photos. #10873751

Memoriee G. Sconce October 16, 2013

Better for those of us with OCD.😊 #10873752

Dale Hardin October 16, 2013

Thanks Nikki, you are right. I looked it up and it is a Passion flower.

LOL, Memoriee. As long as it works. :o) #10873776

Susan Williams October 16, 2013

Beautifully done, Dale. I see what Elaine mentions. Sometimes a pp edit will cause that to happen and sometimes a little blur or a clone patch will take care of it. It wouldn't be particularly noticeable except for the eye being drawn to the detail of the butterfly. But no matter, it's a beautiful capture on an unusual flower. I've seen the Passion Flower up close in Austin, TX, but I've never seen one with a Butterfly. :) #10873785

Beth Spencer October 17, 2013

Dale, now that you know what kind of flower it is, what kind of butterfly is it? #10874007

Peter W. Marks October 17, 2013

I am trying to make up my mind whether to buy new glasses,buy a new monitor, cancel my BP subscription, double up on my hypertension pills or take to hard liquor. "Noise"? I have peered at this image and I cannot detect noise. On a digital color image, "Noise" is as far as I know, tiny random specks of color (often pink or green) which become mostly evident on areas of flat color like a pale blue sky just for instance.
The reason they are usually most evident on images often made at high ISO settings is the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensor circuitry is such that spurious electrons caused by for instance over-heating become amplified to the point of being obvious. For those not into electronics an analogy might be if we were listening to a quiet passage in a classical orchestral piece and there were a number of folk coughing. Yup, 'noise'!
So perhaps I should just be grateful that I don't see these things and only enjoy the good bits!
#10874074

Peter W. Marks October 17, 2013

Just in case Dale is having a sleep-in may I venture to suggest the butterfly is a Gulf fratillery, often referred to as the "passion butterfly" and it will scarcely surprise you to know that they feed almost exclusively on the "passion flower". #10874129

Beth Spencer October 17, 2013

Thanks Peter! #10874130

Rita K. Connell level-classic October 17, 2013

sorry I am late to this another busy week for me. both images are very beautiful and very nicely captured. I believe what makes is really special is the type flower and that you capture the butterfly with it. nice job Dale. #10874164

Dale Hardin October 17, 2013

Thank you Susan.

Peter, thanks for identifying this butterfly for Beth and me. I was going to ask the same question but she beat me to it.

Thanks Rita. Was real lucky on this image because they were in full sunlight and I could get a decent shutter speed. #10874190


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