August 2009 votes

[Ian Pratt]

In my opinion, your August photo is nowhere near as good as your July photo. It's relatively-uninteresting, and the second butterfly looks as if it has a damaged wing! Sharpness didn't come into it, for me

The second butterfly is not damaged but the wing is slightly open- easier to see on the raw image. Surely sharpness and the fact that three butterflies of at least two species are almost perfectly lined up on a piece of grass is worth something?
Interestingly although the photo received no votes along with 11 other photos, on ratings there were 19 lower so I suppose there is a difference of opinion. At the end of the day whether someone likes or dislikes a photo is mainly subjective.

[Denise]

Hi Ian,

Take some consolation in the fact that six people rated your image with a total of 37 points, although you didn't get a vote.
I got two votes, but only two people took the time to rate my image, and only got 14 points.
The next vote will be very interesting.

And your right, at the end of the day whether someone likes or dislikes a photo is mainly subjective.

Denise

[FISHiEE]

I do agree with Pete that Ian's first image has far more interest. In that shot the biggest attraction by far is the contrast of the 3 lined up wings shut against the single specimen wings open. The lighting is also far better in the first image. The background is perhaps a little messier and although you say it's not so sharp it looks pretty good at this size here. Maybe with the full size image it's a different story. In the latter image it does look a bit sharper buyt the light is a little dull, the middle specimen isn't quite perfect and the head of the top one is totally obscured.

I do agree that sharpness is a critical thing however it's not the only thing required to make a great image. A really good image that's not quite there on sharpness is often more appealing to people than a super sharp image that's not so interesting.

[Ian Pratt]

Thanks for those comments which are really helpful.

[Padfield]

It's a funny world. I won in July with an "arty" photo of 4 chalkhill blues and then received no votes for a sharper and better photo IMO of three blues in August! Weird eh?

We see our own pictures with quite different eyes from those we use for others' pictures. On more than one occasion I've submitted a picture that for me was manifestly better than all the others and received no votes at all. It's humbling, but I think the vast majority of UK Butts members are honest, unbiased and critically perceptive so I have to conclude the bias was in my own judgment!!

For what it's worth, I think your August picture is an excellent picture but of a very commonplace sight, with nothing in the image itself to pull it into the extraordinary. If I had voted, I would probably have passed over it for that reason. I have sometimes voted for technically less competent pictures that somehow manage to capture a rare moment and excite me, or that tell a story beyond the butterfly itself. If a picture makes me think, 'Gosh, I wish I'd been there!!', then it's a great picture for me.

Guy