Tell Me Tuesday features one or more of my photos with information on how it came to be. How and where it was taken, technical information, and if any post-processing was done will all be shared. Sometimes before and after shots will be shown.
Then it becomes your turn to critique the photo (don’t worry, I have a thick skin) which can be anything from “I like/don’t like it” to a discussion of how you might have handled the same shot and/or done something differently. Since this is art, anything you like or don’t like is valid. And while I enjoy your praise, it is only your constructive criticism which can help me continue to grow as a photographer.
And finally, you will be given the opportunity to join in with your own Tell Me Tuesday post. You don’t need to be an advanced photographer, just someone who takes photos. You don’t need a fancy camera. You don’t need to tell all the technical data if you don’t want … just how and/or why the photo was taken. We would all love to hear your story. Simply add your link below.
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This week I share a photo that I took in the Greenbelt of Staten Island.
It was taken in late spring – just days before the beginning of summer. I was walking a trail through the woods which I had never been on before, so every turn was a surprise. After walking a distance I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye so I stopped and stood very still. Soon I noticed dozens of butterflies and within minutes of standing very still they came closer to me. In fact, after a while of standing totally still, one or two even landed on me.
Here is the original untouched version of one of the photos I was able to take, along with some technical data.
Aperture: f/6.3
Shutter speed: 1/160
ISO: 800
Lens: Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR
Focal length: 200 mm
Mode: Aperture preferred
Nikon D3100
© Mark L. Fendrick
The aperture of 6.3 was chosen as to get a nicely out of focus background, but still have enough depth of field so that the rapidly moving butterfly and some of the stem it was on would be in focus.
When I shoot, I shoot in RAW + JPEG so I can work on the RAW file in Photoshop when I get home. In this case, very little work was needed other than a bit of tweaking on the overall exposure balance and contrast as well as some cropping. After the cropping there was a bit of unwanted leaf in the upper left corner, and that was removed using the clone tool. A slight bit of Unsharp Mask rounded out the post-processing and resulted in this photo.
Now I have told you how this photo came to be so it is your turn to tell me your thoughts on it. How would you have done it differently – if you would have? What works for you? What doesn’t?
Don’t forget to post your own Tell Me Tuesday and add the link below. It doesn’t have to be as detailed as mine, nor do you need to post the technical information if you don’t know it. All you need to do it post a picture and perhaps tell us a bit about it.
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Gathered Images 