early morning in the mountains of western North Carolina - butterflies feeding on thistles

please critique

Realizing how difficult this shot was, the worst thing I see is the butterfly seems to lose itself in shadow towards the thistle. I don't know if any tweaking of the curves or if raw file, in the fill light option will bring the detail in without looking unrealistic. Using 20/20 hindsight I would say a weak fill flash would have done wonders for the shot. As it were, good capture!

thanks for the critique - I agree with your comments however what I really like about this shot is the fact that only the tips are in the light which makes them more fantasy like and you are drawn to them - it becomes more dramatic that way

 

thanks again

 

Johny Alives