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Chrysalis of Life
3rd PlaceChrysalis of Life
Nuzzer


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: School Days: Biology (Basic Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Lens: Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 APO DG Macro for Canon
Location: Deck
Date: Feb 11, 2007
Aperture: f/14
ISO: 100
Shutter: 0.5 seconds
Galleries: Animals, Macro
Date Uploaded: Feb 10, 2007

 This is a Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis on the morning that the butterfly emerged. This is the third in my Monarch Butterfly series, the first two being:

The Monarch Butterfly lays her eggs on a swan plant:


The eggs hatch and we now have the caterpillar:


The Chrisalys is hanging from a ceramic pot plant holder. The lighting is natural light and the coloured background comes from my sons paddling pool which is also on the deck. When I looked on the camera's LCD I thought this was an excellent image but now I see it on the "big screen" I see the reflection of my sons paddling pool in the water drop at the bottom as a big distratction. I couldn't reshoot as it was only a few minutes after I took this shot that the Butterfly emerged from the Chrysalis :(

Editing Steps:
Convert from RAW
* exposure -0.77
* Shadow contrast +25
* Hilight contrast -71
* Saturation +34
* Sharpness +25
Clone out sensor dust
Auto Levels
Brightness -5
Contrast +13
Rotate
Crop
Resize
USM
Save for web

Post Challenge:
Wow, a score over 7 and a ribbon to go with it! All week this was bouncing between 6.9 and 7.1 so I was never sure if I'd get the 7 or not! And another cool thing is that this image makes the front page for this lens!

Here's the original

Statistics
Place: 3 out of 131
Avg (all users): 7.1244
Avg (commenters): 7.6522
Avg (participants): 6.7895
Avg (non-participants): 7.1925
Views since voting: 9894
Views during voting: 426
Votes: 225
Comments: 42
Favorites: 13 (view)

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AuthorThread
 11/19/2009 02:52:35 PM
Congrats on a well deserved ribbon!

Message edited by author 2009-11-19 20:45:06.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/27/2007 10:00:01 AM
Originally posted by bood:
is it attached to someone's chin?!
Mother nature!

umm dude i think its ether on a pot or a balcony, otherwise a beutiful shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/25/2007 10:21:07 AM
Beautifully done, congratulations on your ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/22/2007 03:26:29 AM
Great shot, very well done. Congrats
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/21/2007 10:21:42 PM
is it attached to someone's chin?!
Mother nature!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/21/2007 03:41:46 PM
This is the only stage of the Monarch that I dont have. This is fabulous. Congrats on the yellow, I hope that I am lucky enough to see one someday as I have a lot of Milkweed plants on our 6 acres and I make sure they dont get cut down. This is the caterpillar's staple diet and too many farmers and people are cutting them down.

Beautiful shot!! I didnt even notice the reflection until I read your notes.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/21/2007 05:06:49 AM
It's a nice picture, but I have to agree with you about the distracting reflection. This past summer I raised some Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies. It's real interesting. Congratulations!

Message edited by author 2007-02-21 10:10:04.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/21/2007 04:00:14 AM
Very cool macro and fitting subject, congratulations on winning the yellow ribbon!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/21/2007 03:10:01 AM
WOOHOO!!!! WAY TO GO GERRY!!!

What a great shot, and a perfect entry for this challenge. I have to laugh at how critical you are of yourself about the pool in the water drop, hehe!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 10:58:22 PM
Big Congrats on the 7! such amazing detail and sharpness.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 10:16:10 PM
Beautiful shot! Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 10:07:29 PM
Congrats on your ribbon, well deserved!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 09:52:44 PM
I wondered what the heck that reflection was... Didn't bother me in the least, but made me bloody curious, lol! Congrats on the yellow! Awesome stuff. (hmmm... I wonder if we could get a kiwi on the front page every week...)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 09:20:54 PM
Congrats! This is an amazing image and something that I think a very great number of us have not seen for ourselves. Your Monarch Butterfly series is amazing, and even more awesome is that they are all challenge entries that have not been shoehorned in. Great job!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 08:09:07 PM
Great image,beautifull colors
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 07:39:09 PM
WoW what a great image. I didn't vote or look at all the shots in this challenge but if I did this would have been a 10.
Congrats on the ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 07:20:11 PM
nice work teammate! I knew this one would do well!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 07:12:00 PM
Beautiful colors and clarity. Congrats on the ribbon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
02/20/2007 12:35:35 PM
I don't know if I'm meant to be making out something important in the bottom drop of water? The support in the top right corner is abit intrusive, which knocks it down a bit.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 07:04:09 AM
i like the way you havce the cocun in this photo, the water coming down is cool
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/20/2007 04:30:03 AM
I'm not sure about the background here... I think I would have preferred something more natural looking. But it's such a great close up of a chrysalis! Nice!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/19/2007 04:09:33 PM
Neat shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/19/2007 04:04:56 PM
very good picture
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/19/2007 07:23:37 AM
Stunning! 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/18/2007 02:44:49 AM
Very relevant and absolutely beautiful!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/17/2007 11:54:55 AM
wow, what detail and color. Great eye.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/17/2007 09:06:51 AM
interesting - 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/17/2007 06:17:01 AM
There you go...nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/16/2007 01:21:21 PM
What drew me to this is the brilliant colors. I can't stop looking at it!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/15/2007 02:42:55 PM
ohhh, ribbon fo sho.
Although I thought butterflies were in cacoons and moths were in crysali...oh well, whatever. 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/15/2007 10:26:02 AM
Perfect. A wonder. Well chosen background colors enhance this subject.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/15/2007 10:12:01 AM
Wow! wat a beautiful shot,and effective background aswell. Wats on the reflection of the lowest drop? amazing shot. :0)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/15/2007 05:53:59 AM
Gorgeous clarity - really well done and a nice example for the challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/15/2007 03:45:13 AM
Hmm, the potential of your subject. What will come out of this? Interesting colours.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2007 11:30:33 PM
is that your computer screen reflected in the drop? looks very strange. besides that a very good macro
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2007 06:13:05 PM
The backgroud is a little overbright, to the point of distraction from the main subject.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2007 12:36:35 PM
Wonderful capture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2007 04:46:57 AM
nice background
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2007 03:56:35 AM
Great detail and some pretty funky colors in the background. Thats probably my only complaint as it takes away from the colors you have working on the cocoon.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/14/2007 03:04:16 AM
nice shot. B+
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/13/2007 09:29:33 PM
Lovely study - 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/13/2007 08:16:27 PM
Wow. Bokeh so soft and subject so sharp. Amazing that you could do this without layers. Looks like a viceroy.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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