Thanks everyone for commenting. I'm glad you like the image.
Mongo, I used a 400 G plus a 1.4 teleconverter, I don't know why it reads 550 instead of 560 but then again, I don't know how to read exif files with any great certitude so the whys and wherefores more often than not elude me. I will say, the 400 is far and away my favorite lens. While I would love to have the new one (if I could afford it), it would be primarily because of the weight. The 400 G is wonderful in every other regard.
John and Fons, it was the barbed wire which made the shot worth taking and then the butterfly appeared! I was lucky to get as clear a shot as I did. Butterflies in flight are much more difficult for me than birds and the final outcome more often depends on good fortune and any skill is a unconscious residue of the process.
Francis, I take your point about the crop. My version is uncropped as I set up the stationary subject with all the camera paraphernalia on a tripod. What was the surprise was I didn't count on the butterfly which suddenly appeared on the backside of the flower and then flew off. When I was able to grab one shot of the monarch in flight, it changed the shot making the butterfly the star of the show. I have tried a recrop and here it is. I like them both for different reasons. Is this what you had in mind?
