First time I used a Gimbal on a monopod, and it seem to work well. I was stopped down one stop to try and get a soft background. I tried a couple of f-stops to see what would work best.
Canon 90D 100-400 ii f/4-5.6 with a 1.4x extender. 560mm f/10 iso 1600 1/400
Dean, I just love the colors in this shot, and how the flower and the butterfly’s colors go so well together. I kind of wish the partial flower to the right wasn’t in the frame, as it seems to be drawing my attention away from that beautiful subject. If this was a crop, and all of the flower is there, it might work as a balance in the image to include all of it. Excellent job with the BG, making this beauty stand out nicely.
Nicely done, Dean. The color of the Gulf Fritillary nearly matches that of the flower. I do like @Shirley_Freeman suggestion of eliminating that bit of flower poking in from the LR. I like the crop; you could probably use content aware fill to lose that bit of flower.
Great head on shot, Dean.
Great pose! Looks like some success with the gimbal/monopod combo. Looks like the focus was on the back of the wings and not the head here, very tough to focus with these guy since they move so much, but the colors look rich without being overblown.
The little pieces of flower on the right were interesting but I find this second version surprisingly more attention-getting! I’s very nicely done. Now maybe consider cloning the little clump of 3 colored areas on the left?
I really appreciate these comments as I want to improve my insect photography. Here is another update that addresses the LLC.
Great improvement all around. The more uniform surroundings really show off the beauty of the wings nicely.
