Not if I get to the mac first!!

Yay! I just about fit in the "Up to 30" category!! Yay!!

Not for long though!

Yep, I think it's a good idea too.

Well I had a fantastic day today, not only meeting up with Vic, Dan and Hefty, but great weather and a beautiful place for photography! The ankle stood up to the test too (surprisingly) but needless to say that I have now collapsed in a heap!!

Just wanted to thank you guys for making the day fun and interesting and I'll post up some shots tomorrow evening after I've recovered!

Fiona

designer ones too please!

Thanks for your comments and advice Jonathan.

When I started shooting the butterflies I was using auto focus, but as soon as I half pressed the release I soon realised that manual was better. Not only was my Tamron 90mm slow to focus, it made a hell of a racket doing it and scared the butterflies away! Luckily, just standing still for a few minutes, they came back.

I completely agree with the OOF backgrounds, and when I go back to Whipsnade will think about this instead of just snapping them when they settle. Will also increase DOF so that the whole of the butterfly is in focus (which was my intention).

Forgot to mention these were all taken handheld.

Fiona

Welcome to the forum!

Fiona

I really like this shot! The second one is an improvement colour wise, so I prefer that one.

In terms of composition, I love the foreground heather, the colours work really well with the green field and blue sky.I actually quite like the saturated colour, it gives the shot a surreal feel about it. There is just enough detail in the lighthouse and sky beyond to make it a well balanced composition.

A lovely shot, that makes me feel like I'm on holiday, even though I'm not

Fiona

I agree with Darkmunk and George. The rocks in the foreground are a little distracting, as is the lake on the right with the white edging.

The rocks in the foreground are too pale, and stop me from viewing the landscape as a whole, and the lake on the right is too dark and the white outline to it draws my attention away from the rest of the shot.

I'm no expert when it comes to black and white, but is it possible to tweak the levels or curves or both to adjust the strength of the black lakes and also darken the foreground rocks?

As you can probably tell, I am no expert!

Fiona

As my confidence grew, taking butterflies at Whipsnade Zoo on Sunday, I decided to try different compositions. It wasn't easy as the little blighters kept moving!

No PP, just converting to jpeg and resizing in Aperture. All shot at 125 ISO at F6.3

Here are my favourites, and I'd love to know what you think of the compositions:

1.



2.



3.



4.



5.



6.



7.



All C&C welcome as this is a new area of photography for me.

Cheers!
Fiona