Butterfly stands still (02)
I had no plan to make photo that day, but stole a bit of time to capture this butterfly in the garden...
I had no plan to make photo that day, but stole a bit of time to capture this butterfly in the garden...
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Feb, 2019Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in my small garden, under the shade of the trees, in the suburbs of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.Time
The picture was taken at around 03:00 pm, in February 2019.Lighting
Natural light only for this shot. 03:00 pm is not yet the "golden hours"(even if night will fall only a bit after 6:00 pm in February in Cambodia). But the butterfly was in a quite shaded area, with longan and pomegranate trees, so the light was quite soft. In the background, the light is filtered through the tree leaves with a nice bokeh.Equipment
This was shot with Fujifilm XT-20 and the kit lens XC16-50mm at Focal Length 46.7 mm. (ISO 1000, 1/150 s, f/11). Camera handled. No flash, no other equipment.Inspiration
I had no plan to take picture on that day. But saw this butterfly and the nice light under the tree shade. It was a very nice, quiet and peaceful atmosphere. I felt like I wanted somehow to look better (for me photography is a way to look better. Qualitatively.) and share that moment. So I decided to get my XT-20 and go for a few shots. But for this picture, I think the interesting thing is on recomposing the image by cropping, to make something different from most of the pictures we see of butterflies. On the original image, the butterfly fully appears in the frame. As on most pictures of butterflies we see, which draw our eyes on the colorful wings. I though a different composition here would be interesting to draw the attention on the head, eyes, legs, antenna... and show the butterfly not as beautiful colorful wings, but as a "being". Maybe even a character...Editing
Yes. Some post-processing in LR. The main one is cropping. The original image is 6000x4000. The one you see is 2162x2162. I explained why I did that above, about the "inspiration". Also some adjustments on the exposure (reduce blacks and increase other areas to have more contrast on the butterfly lines), increase a bit clarity and dehaze (maybe too much?). (I must say here I am an amateur photographer, mainly self taught in particular when it comes to post-processing: I'm just trying adjustments without a proper background knowledge and theory... I wish I can learn more...).In my camera bag
I use Fujifilm XT-20 at the moment. And for lens it depends on what I want to do. I like the versatility of zooms. The 16-50mmm is a good option when traveling and if you don't want to burden yourself with too much stuff (the XT-20 quite small body is also good for that). But if I really go somewhere to take photos, I will have prime lenses with me (nowadays I use a lot the XF56mm F1.2 and the XF16mm F1.4 which are great prime lenses for Fuji X mount).Feedback
Just practice, enjoy, try new things, challenge yourself... and get inspired with great pictures and challenges on ViewBug!
