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horace2264
02-Apr-2007, 08:53 PM
Shot this beautiful Arhopala in CCA, and caught a glimpse of this green upperside when it took off from this perch. After looking up C&P4 and "Butterflies of the Oriental Region Part III, a possible ID for it is species 138 in the BC checklist, Arhopala trogon. Please assist to confirm or suggest alternative ID.

Horace

Peacock Royal
02-Apr-2007, 09:38 PM
A beautiful shot.
You are currently the hottest rare butt attractor :bsmile: .

The Monarch
02-Apr-2007, 10:01 PM
Wow rare Arhopala with a nice background... :thumbsup:

Silverstreak
02-Apr-2007, 11:39 PM
Horace ,

Congrates for the +1 !:cheers:

That was a splendid shot.

Now at least we have something to refer to in the checklist!:redbounce

horace2264
03-Apr-2007, 12:12 AM
Thanks, Federick, Jason and Sunny.
I was lucky that the butt was cooperative long enough for me to try out different settings and wait out several windy spells, and that it was also resting at an orientation avoiding the messy leaves and branches in its vicinity.

Over-joyed at another +1.

Horace

Cruiser
03-Apr-2007, 08:28 AM
Image is very well captured. What ISO setting did you use for this shot?

horace2264
03-Apr-2007, 09:57 AM
Image is very well captured. What ISO setting did you use for this shot?

The camera settings were: ISO800, 1/125, f5.6.

The butt was actually in a shady area, and my usual ISO400 setting was giving me a low shutter speed below my comfort range of 1/200-1/250, thus I tried ISO800 in the last few shots I fired.

Horace

Elbowed Pierrot
03-Apr-2007, 10:09 AM
well done horace on your +1, like the sheen

Commander
04-Apr-2007, 09:28 AM
My apologies. Whilst editing the title, I must've somehow accidentally removed this thread. :hmmm: It's back now. Thanks to CM for letting me know.

Well done on the +1 Horace. Seldom see Arhopalas with clean green backgrounds. :thumbsup:

Silverstreak
04-Apr-2007, 11:37 AM
Horace,

Obviously with ISO 800 some denoising had been carried out.

Are you using a combination of Noise Ninja/ Neat image and Photoktd Sharpener?

It appears that the butts has been over- smoothen. Try a 2 stage process on smoothing if you are using Photokit Sharpener.

First smoothen the butts first with smoothing brush 1 and decrease the "Fill" slider to desire level(default at 100%).

Next smoothing the BG only with smoothing brush 2 or 3 .

I could be wrong , but it appears to me that the butts has more details but was over-smoothen.


Cheers!

horace2264
04-Apr-2007, 09:14 PM
well done horace on your +1, like the sheen

Thanks, Simon. Glad that you like the sheen.

Horace

horace2264
04-Apr-2007, 09:18 PM
My apologies. Whilst editing the title, I must've somehow accidentally removed this thread. :hmmm: It's back now. Thanks to CM for letting me know.

Well done on the +1 Horace. Seldom see Arhopalas with clean green backgrounds. :thumbsup:

Thanks, Khew for correcting the title and restoring the thread. Let's hope the butt makes repeat appearances for all to enjoy capturing on CCD.

Horace

horace2264
04-Apr-2007, 09:25 PM
Horace,

Obviously with ISO 800 some denoising had been carried out.

Are you using a combination of Noise Ninja/ Neat image and Photoktd Sharpener?

It appears that the butts has been over- smoothen. Try a 2 stage process on smoothing if you are using Photokit Sharpener.

First smoothen the butts first with smoothing brush 1 and decrease the "Fill" slider to desire level(default at 100%).

Next smoothing the BG only with smoothing brush 2 or 3 .

I could be wrong , but it appears to me that the butts has more details but was over-smoothen.


Cheers!

Thanks, Sunny for sharing your workshow for cleaning out noises in images at high ISO. In my case, I did not apply any denoising nor smoothing techniques to the picture posted. I didn't see any apparent and annoying noises in this particular picture. All I did was to do a slight crop, some USM and finished with the save-for-web function.

The perceived absence of details is due to the shooter's unsteady hands even at 1/125. Furthermore when I zoomed in to examine the details captured, I could see that the area at and adjacent to the forewing apex was not in sharp focus when the shot was taken.


Horace

horace2264
29-Jun-2007, 07:26 PM
Sighted another male A. trogon at the same location, but this time the butt has some birth defect on one hindwing revealing the yellowish-green patches on the upperside.

Horace

Commander
30-Jun-2007, 04:07 PM
Hmm.. the left hindwing is completely crumpled. This individual won't last very long. Did you see it fly?

horace2264
30-Jun-2007, 05:55 PM
Hmm.. the left hindwing is completely crumpled. This individual won't last very long. Did you see it fly?


Yes, it was flying across the trail when it caught my attention. Later it flew from one high perch to another higher perch, and finally out of sight.

Horace