Butterfly photo. need critism.

[DaytonLax14]

What can I do to make this photo better?

 

[meotter]

i'd crop it more... get more focus on just the butterfly and the flower... the flower even competes a bit with the butterfly. smaller f-stop to get less of the flower in focus and the whites in the flower on the right side are blown out on my monitor

 

[DaytonLax14]

okay thanks. anymoreopinions?

 

[Stranger]

i feel the background is extremely distracting. A more shallow DOF (smaller f/stop) would definitely do this shot more justice

 

[DaytonLax14]

okay, this may be a stupid question, but what is f stop? i'm a photography newb.

 

[meotter]

smaller f-stop is the number you see in the camera that says f2.8 or f11 or f-whatever... depending on what kind of camera you have, you might not be able to manually adjust this setting. if you're using a camera that doesn't allow you to manually set the f-stop (aka aperture) then use the macro mode (usually looks like a flower) that will automatically set it to a smaller f-stop.

 

[elsaspet]

Tech assist is offered in the forum right under this one. This is meant for delivered photos.
That said, there is some weird clone line above the butterfly. I'm not sure if that is it, but it's bizzare all the same.
The butterfly itself has two different white balances, or a VERY harsh shadow.
Don't give up. Keep at it.

 

[kalmkidd]

background is horrible distracting. and it looks like your focus was on the pink flower needs to be cropped to focus more on the butterfly.

 

[JCleveland]

i too think the lattice is quite distracting.. less DoF

 

[DaytonLax14]

what f stop so you reccomend me using?

 

[photelle]

What camera are you using?

Get the book "Understand Exposure" by Bryan Peterson, it explains all about settings really well.

I agree with the cc above, but still, cool pic!

 

[Trenton Romulox]

Just at a quick glance, the background is too busy for my liking. Then again, that's for 'my liking'. Everyone has difference preferences. Some like a lot of action, some, like me, like a simple shot. It's just not simple enough for me.

 

[gizmo2071]

With insect and flower photography it's important to make sure that they are your main point of focus.
So a key concept of composition is "isolation".
This is where a shallow depth of field helps bring all attention to your subject.
This is a quick edit, i just blurred the background to give the illusion of a shallower D.O.F, it's much better to do it in camera.
I think the crop works alot better for drawing attention to the subject.