Viceroy in full bloom

[Rene Quenneville]

I did this picture yesterday while walking in a local open field. The light was far from perfect and it was windy. I did have to sacrifice depth of field. I do like the colors but I am not sure with composition, please give me your thoughts.
1/640s
f/6.3
ISO 640
340mm

[Dave Leroy]

A dandy photo. I really like the composition and nice full view of the butterfly. DOF looks fine to me. The only thing I might do is tone down or clean up the white area and surroundings on the edge of photo under the butterfly. Lovely colours.

Dave

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Rene. This looks like a perfect specimen (it must have just emerged) and it's giving you a great spread-wing pose. The butterfly seems to have a slight dreamy, soft focus look which, for my tastes, is a rather pleasant effect. I would agree with Dave about toning down the white areas. The comp works for me, as presented, though you might also consider cropping about an inch off the right as an alternative. This is very nicely done.

[Julie Kenward]

Hello Rene. Lovely viceroy you have here! I noticed the yellows were a bit bright so I went in and desaturated them just a tiny bit and then fixed the white spot below the butterfly so my eye wasn't drawn away from it by the hot spot. I also ran a round of NR and sharpened it a bit. I think I managed to leave the soft feel while adding a touch more clarity to the edges of the butterfly. I think your composition is right on - the butterfly is in a nice ROT's position and the angle is very nice within the frame of the image. You've cut off the plant at a nice place and it all works for me.

Not sure what happened...the yellows seem brighter now that its posted! Go figure...

[Rene Quenneville]

thank you all for the great comments. I will try to work on the picture as mentionned.

[Bob Miller]

Rene...Your composition looks fine to me and great advice given above. You might try combining a texture with this photo

[christopher galeski]

nice image Rene,like the colors,and the comp,is that some sort of beetle,below the butterfly,on the plant.thanks.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice subject and perch...and a great BG too. My first instinct was to crop from below to just above the whitish spot (and I still think that could work), but Julie's repost shows me that the comp is just fine as is. Good work!

[Ken Childs]

Hi Rene, I like the OP and Jules' repost definitely improves this already nice image. Steve comments about the dreamy look of the butterfly makes sense.....this species almost always looks like this when photographed so I think this is just how they look. I've taken many shots of Viceroys and they all have this soft, glowing look to them.