Butterfly

I used 3 different layers of Topaz Adjust and Simplify blended together with some layer masking. This isn't the most attractive butterfly but I like the composition. I think it's a Sulfur butterfly but I'm not a bf expert.

Perfect for the weekly theme of simplicity. Simple and effective composition; clean bg. I like how the color of the butterfly matches the color of the flower center. What would you think of cloning the light areas of the bg along the stem? Well done.

I like the composition, too, Judy. And the soft colors. I could see Anita's point about the background along the stem, but I prefer backgrounds that have some tonal range. And the light spots in the background seemed consistent with the lighting of the stem. When I played around with it, I came up with something like this. (It wasn't exactly like this, but pretty close. I think re-saving of jpgs messes with their ability to display dynamic range and makes tonal transitions less gradual.)

Beautiful composition, Judy. I too like the simplicity. The colors are very nice... Anita makes a good point here and I like the reduced effect in Dennis's repost. Nicely done!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions Anita, Dennis and Indranil. Here's a repost with several modifications including darkening the whole image a little and adding a little more color to the butterfly. I also selected the stem from a lower layer that I liked better and placed it on top.

The repost emphasizes the simplicity of the image.

Repost rocks, great for the theme...TFS

Judy, I think the repost is wonderful. Perfect for the theme.:S3: