Red-spotted Purple

[Allen Sparks]

Canon 7D, 300mm f4 plus 1.4x TC, 580 EX II flash, monopod
ISO 200, f16, 1/250s, manual mode

Here is another one of my nemesis butterflies I managed to find in a woodland this past weekend. They are not attracted to flowers thus all the greenery you see in this shot. I have a little more room around the butterfly but could not resist my usual tight crop. I was not sure how to handle the greenery on the left - I cropped right through it but would like to hear other thoughts. Thanks for any comments.

[Ken Childs]

They're my nemesis, too. They're one of the most beautiful butterflies in our area but the **** things perch on messy leaves, dirt, poop, carrion, rotting fruit, concrete, my car/tractor...anything that won't provide a nice BG.

Other than a few scrapes, the butterfly looks fantastic! It would take a lot of work but you could replace the BG on the left with the nice stuff that's on the right.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Allen,
These are truly spectacular butterflies and the color really shows through on this one. Fortunately he was close to the leaf so the single flash didn't have much shadow cast! I'd say leave the greenery on the right....but tone down the whitish flowers?....on the LLC and call it a winner!

[dawn campbell]

Hi Allen, such beautiful colors in this guy (gal?). If t was my image I think I would desaturate the greens in the leaves somewhat and edge burn them as well, creating something of a vignette effect but subtle. That will pull the eye in to the butterfly and the foliage will be less distracting, and would also serve to really pop the colors in the butterfly?

[Harshad Barve]

Gorgeous image
TFS

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Beautiful BF, superb colors, sharp. Not much to do about greenery but Roman's advice will work well.

[Steve Maxson]

A great specimen with beautiful colors well captured. I like the diagonal comp and nice job avoiding the dreaded black background. I'm OK with the greenery, though as an alternate to Roman's suggestion, you might consider cloning the whitish flowers.

[Anita Bower]

Beautiful butterfly! Love that sheen. Roman and Dawn have some good advice to try.