I photographed this new-born (just hatched from the cocoon) butterfly this morning. I don't like the background and I need help making it better.

Different, yes. Better? May have selected the wrong type of habitat for the butterfly. Once extracted from the original picture it could be placed in any setting.

-extraction (may not be the best)
-color enhancement of the butterfly

dc

I placed her on a green leaf.

Masking is not the best, but you get the idea.

I added some levels to this to give it more variation.
Is this what you had in mind?

kept it simple to show off the new-born.. inverted the butterfly color and used that for background..
Granny

kept it simple to show off the new-born.. inverted the butterfly color and used that for background..
Granny

WOW... for a "granny" you rock!

I added some levels to this to give it more variation.
Is this what you had in mind?

Not exactly... but nice atmosphere.

kept it simple to show off the new-born.. inverted the butterfly color and used that for background..
Granny

Can you please tell me how you did sutch a "near perfect" extraction?... I tried... I MEAN I tried...

TY for your accolades.. I think your Photography of the butterfly is superb!! I am just a novice here trying other peoples projects just to see what I can accomplish with this Photoshop thingy..

My extraction was not very good either.. so I moved a copy of the original, which has great detail, to a new layer on top of the new color and extraction..I think I used Luminosity on this one and adjusted the opacity till the details showed thru.. It lightened the background a bit but was acceptable for me..

Granny

Not the greatest extraction but something with which to work.

dc

Not the greatest extraction but something with which to work.

dc

Nice one (mine was far worse). I'ts painful not to lose the hair that blends to the background. I think "granny" tought us a lesson (newbie... but smart way).

Thank you for your time... I hope you enjoyed it.