Regardless of the depth of field, which is definitely needed here and welcoming, almost everything captured stands out, even the shadow of the butterfly on the petals can be distinguished. This is an extremely difficult capture and is always a treat to the eye when accomplished.

I do believe that the dark soft border could have been left out, however, it does not shadow the elements of the sun nor the subject, and is only mentioned as an alternative.

Beautiful to look at: before coming to add my critique, I had it in my inbox of messages delaying my arrival here so I could keep getting a glimpse of this work of art.

Congratulations!

I really really like this, and even more so now that the full view has popped up in my critique window here! The detail you've got on that butterfly is beautiful and the shadows behind the wing are perfect. I don't usually like gradient borders, mainly because I used to see them and think that they detracted too much from the artwork. However yours works brilliant here, it gently and smoothly illustrates the edges of your shot and brings them to a neat and tidy close with the faint shading...nice choice! The colours are lovely, purples and then the autumny colour of the butterfly and the background...excellent piece of work. I really love it