I cropped your photo and removed a few extraneous items. If you look at what I did you eye will still be drawn to the red flower. I left it in the photo for you to see. I darkened the background flower bud and slightly lightened the beetle. As I was working on your photo It was very grainy, Not sure as to why???

The second one is better composition. If you could possibly removed objects to the right in post and crop a little tighter the subject would grab the viewer. All in all good photo.

Nice photo of a Tiger Swallowtail, clear and sharp. I have only one comment, the flower in the background draws
ones attention to it at first glance and not the subject butterfly. If you could remove it??

This is an adult female Blue Dasher. They are found all over the country.

I was in Hawaii just before covid hit. Found I used my Tamron 400mm the most everything. If you plan on whale watching like I did then I would recommend a 600mm if you have one. Bring your 50mm or 100mm for any rain forest or closeup work. Also found if you stay on the main island walk outside the hotel area, the food is much cheaper.

It is a "Brown Thrasher"

The size is just a factor of cropped size horizontal or vertical. 10x8 is 2 times 5x4. if you crop to 10x8 then you can print 20x16 etc. Printing vertical 8x10 is still 2 times 4x5 or 16x20.

I have several Tamron lens and the all function as I expect them to. I have an 18mm, 400mm and the earlier version of the 600mm. The original 600mm is not as fast in auto focus as the newer version but I still get great shots. What I found and it applies to most larger lens is that if your battery is not as strong due to use it hinders the lens response. I went out to Amazon and got 2 new batteries with a higher output current for less than I would pay for1 retail. Solved a minor problem in focus I was having at the time I thought was due to dirty contacts. A good contact cleaner is Deoxit, again available on Amazon.

I have traveled to cold places such as Alaska. not much you can do to prevent fogging. Normally I cool the camera etc. for about 1/2 hr before I use it. In your case where you want to be warm, have you cake and eat so to speak poses a problem. I have never tried what I am about to recommend, but then you seem desperate. Buy a soft bag cooler big enough to hold the camera and lens. one or two freezer packs, Styrofoam to fit over freezer packs and place camera on top. you can control to coldness by opening the zipper cover.

I have a cube, it comes with a defuser that slips over the front of the cube. It has several setting that go from low lumen to high lumen and then to strobe as you press the button on the top. You hold the button down until it shuts off. It is great for providing back light or additional lighting to a subject being photographed. It is small and easy to position, take along on a trip and holds a charge for a long time. It also can be mounted to a camera shoe with an adapter, great for macro photography. A little pricy but worth the $