Beautiful view of this butterfly, Jim. The spot in the lower left is a bit of an eye magnet and the pine needles would make it difficult to get a good selection, especially since LR still hasn’t caught up on the latest and greatest tools for that (though for the most delicate and precise selections, I still resort to an old pre-AI Topaz plug-in for PS and a small monitor with pen capability). Have you tried the point color tool in LR? Sometimes you can get a good effect by increasing saturation and reducing luminosity.
Jim, tattered butterflies are always fun, because (at least to me) they feel so delicate but are clearly tough and resilient. The bright bit in the lower left can be toned down in (at least) a couple of ways. First, burning-in using a lights luminosity mask. Alternatively, you can create a saturation layer, dial down both the saturation and the brightness and then use a mask to apply the changes only to the bright bit. (I do those in Photoshop, but there may be similar approaches in other software.)
Jim: This brings back some memories, not for the image which I don’t recall, but for the species. Our center in Houston never had these but the center in Scottsdale where one of our sons lives did and I got some shots there of males and females and even one of them mating. The bright spot is not a killer for me since it’s pretty OOF. if it was more defined it would certainly bug me more. Good job on your plane of focus management. >=))>
Jim, sweet image of this beautiful 'fly. Nice detail and BG.
The bright pink area could be toned down even further by simply reducing the red channel.
Nice image!
Jim, this is a nice capture of a BF I am not familiar with at all. I like his pose and the perch you caught him on. He stands out nicely. I’m okay with the bright spot (I didn’t notice it till I started reading the comments) but it may improve the shot even more if it was dulled down. You got really nice details in the BF.
