Fritillary on plum blossom

[Mutley]

Managed to catch this little fella on my mums plum blossom.
Colourful little chap.
Couldnt get him face on as I would have liked but.....
C&C welcomed and gratefully recieved.

[FrankMi]

Great captures, Steve. Lovely colours and great sharpness & bokeh.

The second one doesn't have the out-of-focus twig in front so I feel it is better. There appears to be a couple of smudges above the butterfly's antennae in the second one and the halos make it look like the sharpening was just over the edge. Overall though, two spectacular images!

[Mutley]

Just noticed those marks. Thought they were just finger marks on my iPad doh!
Cheers
Just found out its a Comma too. Not doing very well on this am I?

[Geoff F]

For me, Steve, the background is so bright that it tends to overwhelm the main subject. I would crop tighter to the main elements, butterfly and flower, to reduce the background.

I wouldn't worry too much about working to exact position 'rules' etc. Just work with what you have. Maybe end up with 5 x 4 ratio or whatever looks best.

Those marks look suspiciously like dust on your sensor; so try shooting a clear patch of blue sky or something similar and see if they reappear.

[Mutley]

Cheers Geoff I'll take a blank sky pic tomorrow you may well be right. I didn't notice the marks earlier (that's the prob with only having a tablet).
Tried closer cropping but TBH I just didn't take a good enough pic initially for that.
I was pulling the branch down with one hand whilst trying to grab a shot with the other. Kinda counted myself lucky the little critter didn't fly off.
Thanks again.