Critique Kuranda Butterfly Sanctuary - QLD Australia

StephyB

StephyB

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Steph
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I visited the Kuranda Butterfly Sanctuary today, and this is the result. I tried to take on board advice given previously so I stopped down the aperture as far as I could with the light available (around f8-f11) set the iso to auto and tried to keep the shutter between 1/80 and 1/125. As for editing, not much has been done, slight boost in saturation and contrast and a couple of crops.

Any crit is more than welcome. There are a couple where I have purposely allowed a smaller dof and tried to focus on the body only.


















 
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Hi steph very nice set:)
The giant birdwing if i have got the id right is stunning really like the second shot of it they had one at our local butterfly house was amazing to see
For the open wing shots you do need a smaller aperture but when the butterfly has it's wings shut if you try to get square on, parallel to the butterfly like in number 6 you can use a larger aperture this will raise the shutter speed and also won't need to use a high ISO
 
Thank you so much for the kind and informative response! There's a lot to learn haha. :)

I'm pretty sure that you're right and it is the bird wing. Number 6 is a ulysses butterfly.
 
Nice work Seph, great set and some good variety of shots and subjects. I notice overall you seem to be focusing on the wing detail and, although there is nothing wrong with that (butterflies are of course famous for their gorgeous wing colours and patterns) my advice would be to try and focus on the eye. Look at images 1, 2, 3, 6 & 7 where i would argue these would be better having the focus point on the eye/head area rather than the wing/rear end. To that end I would also encourage you to try to shoot subjects facing towards you rather than away from you. It all depends what you are after. If you want to catalogue the species you see then by all means go for the identifying features, but if you want to connect with the viewer more (as much as you can connect with a bug) then I think it's important to get that eye contact.

Having said all that, the 5th image is my favourite in this set. This is because the butterfly is facing almost directly away from the viewer and it may be pointless to try and focus on the eye. In this image it is very clear we are suppose to be looking at those lovely wings, so the focal point makes perfect sense here. I also really like the one above, as you are on an even level with the butterfly, the eye is in perfect focus and I have that connection (if you know what I mean). I would try and reduce some of those highlights on the leaf on this one in post, and maybe crop in a little bit more, but you have a really nice image there.

HTHs!
 
Thank you for taking the time to give such a detailed response Timmy, I gave it and the rest of the advice a lot of thought and revisited my shots to see if anything fits. These three I really like, and I think they are suitable. Though the one with the two butterflies laying I think could use more dof.

Thank you again, to both of you!





 
Nice one Steph. The first (of the second batch) is my favourite of the series, exactly the type of thing I was referring to (well it's to my taste at any rate). I would warm it up just a touch but would think about printing that one ;)

Love the facing each other too!
 
Woohoo! Thank you!! :) I'll have a go at warming when I get home tonight.
 
In the interest of not spamming the forums... I took some more friends up to the butterfly sanctuary again yesterday, tried to keep in mind all of the advice again too. Here are the results:


Kuranda Butterfly Sanctuary by StephyB86, on Flickr







 
Superb images love them all, great too see some vibrant colourful shots, reminds me of summer.
 
Wow Steph, I'm loving this latest series. In my opinion, you've taken a mighty leap forward not only in composition, but these look significantly sharper than the earlier set. You've even managed to capture some amazing behaviour with that last one!

I must say I'm very impressed and (to me) the difference is amazing. The main question is, do you prefer them?
 
sbowler579 said:
Superb images love them all, great too see some vibrant colourful shots, reminds me of summer.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much :)

TimmyG said:
Wow Steph, I'm loving this latest series. In my opinion, you've taken a mighty leap forward not only in composition, but these look significantly sharper than the earlier set. You've even managed to capture some amazing behaviour with that last one!

I must say I'm very impressed and (to me) the difference is amazing. The main question is, do you prefer them?
Click to expand...

Woohoo! Thank you, you made my day!

I actually tried manually focusing this time around (and remembered to wear my glasses). I've also been reading 'the photographers eye' on recommendation from another member here. Its great to hear that there is improvement.

I feel like a cheat with the laying behaviour - the sanctuary actually breed and cultivate their own butterflies, so they have four laying stations set up where it is so simple just to stand and the butterflies literally come to you.

I really like them and it was a lot of fun trying to capture their little faces. I think closing down the aperture a bit helped and I tried not to worry too much about the iso value. I really like the results and can't thank you enough for the advice & help. I'm sure I still need to improve more but I'm hoping that will come with practice. I'm amazed at the difference too. Also realising the benefit of using an aperture value of f8-f22 for critters instead too.

And I'm really proud to have impressed you, particularly after looking at your work - its amazing, and a little mesmerizing :)
 
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