How to photograph butterflies - tips and techniques for photographing butterflies, including finding them, suggested camera gear and settings, and the best ways to get near them without scaring them off.

1. HOW TO
PHOTOGRAPH
BUTTERFLIES

2. HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES 1
Butterflies can make a wonderful subject for photos, with their colorful patterned wings. But taking great photos of these flittish creatures isn't quite so
easy. In this e-book we cover some tips on how to photograph butterflies to help you capture these stunning insects.
Lens and Camera for Photographing Butterflies
When photographing butterflies, you will need a lens that has the ability to focus quite close, as butterflies are relatively small
creatures. A dedicated macro lens will work best, though a normal lens with extension tubes or a close-up diopter filter will do
the job as well.
You should be looking at a lens with a focal length of around 100mm to 300mm. The longer the focal length, the further you
can be from the butterfly for a particular shot, and so the less chance you have of disturbing the butterfly.
If your camera has an integrated lens and
doesn't accept interchangeable lenses, all is not
lost. Many compact / bridge / superzoom
cameras feature a macro mode that allows the
camera to focus closely.
If you try this and find the camera still cannot
focus close enough to get the butterfly shots
you want, you can purchase a close-up diopter
filter that will allow the camera to focus closer.
Make sure your camera has a filter thread for
the diopter to screw into before you purchase
one though. For some cameras you will need to
purchase an adapter to be able to mount filters
on them.
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3. 2 HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES
Best Locations for Butterfly Photography
If you have a garden with some flowers in it, this can be very good for attracting butterflies. Remember that butterflies not only look for flowers to drink
nectar from, but they also look for plants to lay their eggs on.
Most species' caterpillars are quite particular about what they eat, e.g. Monarch butterfly caterpillars eat Milkweed. So if you are looking to entice a
particular type of butterfly into your garden, then lookup what the foodplant of the caterpillar is.
One of the best flowers for attracting butterflies is Buddleia, also known as the 'butterfly bush'. In good years for butterflies, you can often see the
flowers of this bush covered in feeding butterflies.
If you don't have a garden, flowers in the local
park may well prove attractive to butterflies, but
probably the best place for wild butterfly
photography is wild flower meadows. You tend
to see a much larger range of different species of
butterfly in wild flower meadows, and there are
often large amounts of butterflies, making it
easy to find a subject.
Other wild places such as sunlit spots in woods
can be good as well. You can often find
butterflies warming themselves up on a spot of
sunlit path that passes through woodland.
Finally, there are butterfly houses. These are
great for photographing rare and exotic
butterflies, and make it very easy to find
butterflies for photographing. Unfortunately,
Butterfly houses are often hot and steamy, which
can cause problems with condensation on your
lens.
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4. HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES 3
Another thing to be aware of when photographing at a butterfly house is that the butterflies will often be feeding on pieces of fruit left out for them in
specific locations. A butterfly feeding on a piece of grapefruit that has been cut in half with a knife may make for a nice shot, but it won't look natural.
Remember also that different species of
butterfly hatch or migrate at different
times of the year. So a location that
doesn't have many butterflies in the
Spring may have a lot more butterflies
later in the summer, and vice versa. This
is also a good reason to try
photographing butterflies from the start
of Spring to end of Summer, and see how
many different species you can 'collect'
photos of.
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5. 4 HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES
Getting close to the butterfly
When you see a butterfly you would like to photograph, don't rush over to it quickly. Move slowly towards it, and the nearer you get the slower and
smaller your movements will need to be to avoid scaring it away.
Try to approach the butterfly from an angle where your shadow will not fall on the butterfly. There are a number of reasons for this:
• The shadow moving on to them may scare them away.
• Butterflies also need heat from the sun, so going from direct sunlight to shadow may also make them decide to look for a sunnier spot.
• Lastly, if the butterfly is in shadow, there won't be as much light. This means you might have to compromise on some of your camera settings to
get a properly exposed photo.
Even with the slowest movements, you may still find that the
butterfly decides to fly away just as you get it framed up for
that perfect shot.
One solution is to follow the butterfly and try and get another
shot when it lands again. You may need to repeat this process
several times until the butterfly finally stops for long enough
for you to get a shot, but persistence usually pays off.
The alternative solution is to just stay where you are and hope
the butterfly comes back. Male butterflies are often territorial,
and come back to around the same area. But not always, so if
the butterfly doesn't come back after a couple of minutes it's
probably best to give up on that individual and look for
another one.
So long as you don't mind waiting, a good way to get close to
butterflies is to find a flowering plant that has one or two
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6. HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES 5
butterflies on it already. Try and get close to them, but if they fly away just stay
still by the plant. It is very likely that eventually those butterflies, or some others
will come to the flowers to feed.
Since you're already there, you don't need to move towards them, and should be
able to get some good shots without scaring them off. Even in areas with lots of
butterflies, you may need to wait 20-30 minutes until your first butterfly arrives at
the flower though.
Butterflies feeding on flowers are generally easier to photograph than ones
resting. They tend to be more engrossed in feeding and less alert to the
photographer trying to snap their picture. It can also provide some nice shots of
the butterfly's long proboscis poking down into the flower to get at the nectar.
During the early morning and later in the evening, it is also much easier to get
close to butterflies. This is because the cooler temperature means the butterflies
are less active, and so less likely to fly away.
There are a couple of disadvantages to photographing butterflies in the early
morning and evening though. Because the butterflies are not flying around they
can be quite hard to find! Often they will spend the night hanging from leaves and
grasses, so look carefully at the shrubs and grass near the ground.
The other disadvantage is that there is less light, making it more difficult to get a
well exposed photo that isn't blurred by camera shake.
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7. 6 HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES
Camera Settings for Butterfly Photography
A fast shutter speed is needed when photographing butterflies. This is to avoid camera shake blurring the photo, and also to avoid subject blur from the
butterfly moving. A shutter speed of 1/250s or faster should work well for most situations.
For the aperture, a setting of around f/8 gives enough depth of field to get the butterfly in focus. Though how much of the butterfly is in focus does
depend on the angle you are photographing it at - see the next section for more details.
The ISO setting you want to keep as low as possible to avoid introducing digital noise, or 'grain'. Camera settings are all about a trade-off between
aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. So you may need to use a higher ISO if your pictures are coming out underexposed when you have the aperture and
shutter speed set as you want.
Flash is not something that you really need in butterfly photography, but it can be useful. Flash can be used to provide fill light, lightening shadows and
revealing detail on the butterfly. This is particularly useful if photographing the shadow side of a butterfly against the sun.
An external flash unit (speedlight) that is placed off camera on a bracket, and angled so as to
be pointing down at the butterfly works best. This mimics the direction of sunlight, and so
looks more natural. Use a diffuser on the flash to avoid harsh lighting.
When there is not enough natural light for a proper exposure flash can also come to the
rescue. Be aware though that photos taken with flash as the main light source often end up
with dark backgrounds.
Avoid using autofocus when photographing butterflies. At close distances most autofocus
systems don't work very well, and with active butterflies they will often move about so much
that the autofocus system can't keep up with them.
Instead use manual focus and slowly move the camera towards your subject and back again
in a sort of rocking motion. Then press the shutter just as the butterfly comes into focus.
Keeping moving the camera backwards and forwards and taking shots as the butterfly comes
into focus.
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8. HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES 7
Although you may think you pressed
the shutter just as the butterfly was in
perfect focus, often the focus will be off
by a bit. This is why it is important to
take lots of shots. The more shots you
take, the more likely it is that one will
be in perfect (or near enough) focus.
If you have shots where the focus point
is slightly different, and the butterfly
hasn't moved between the shots, you
may also find that you can focus stack
these photos. This is where you take
two or more shots focused at different
points and then blend them on the
computer to increase the depth of field.
During the day most butterflies will be
too active for a tripod to be any use,
and even those that area resting will
often be blown about in the wind. So
shooting handheld will be best,
enabling you to easily move the camera
about following the butterfly.
If you are photographing a resting butterfly early in the morning or later in the evening however, you may find there is no wind. If so, you can afford
yourself the rare advantage of taking time to set up the shot and using a tripod.
To get the butterfly and background exposed properly, you will very likely need a slow shutter speed in the dim light of the morning or evening. So a
tripod and lack of wind are pretty much essential shooting at this time of day.
If there has been dew overnight, you can get some stunning photos of butterflies covered in sparkling dew drops early in the morning.
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9. 8 HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES
Butterfly Photography Tips
Depth of field (the amount of the image in focus) is very shallow when photographing small subjects such as butterflies.
If you are trying to get a shot of a butterfly with its wings open, wait until the butterfly has opened its wings as flat as possible. Now you need to angle
your camera so that it is parallel to the plane of the butterfly.
This ensures that you get as much of the butterfly's wings in focus as possible.
For shots of butterflies with their wings open, this is often easiest when the sitting sunning
themselves on the ground. However, when photographing butterflies in this position, you will
end up with a photo where most of the ground around the butterfly is in focus as well. This
detracts from the main subject of the butterfly.
If you can, it is better to take this sort of shot when the butterfly is perched on a blade of grass
or on top of a flower. That way the background will be further away from the butterfly. You will
end up with a shot where the butterfly is nicely in focus and the background behind is out of
focus, drawing the viewer's attention where you want it - on the butterfly.
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10. HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES 9
If you are photographing a butterfly with its wings closed, it is also best to position the camera to be parallel to the plane of the butterfly's wings. Again,
this makes sure as much of the butterfly is in focus as possible.
When photographing butterflies it can seem difficult just to get a shot that's in focus. However, don't forget about composition.
Due to the symmetrical nature of butterflies, butterfly photos can look great with the butterfly centered. However, don't take all your photos with the
butterfly perfectly centred and filling the frame. Try some compositions, remember the rule of thirds, and giving your subject some space to look into.
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11. 10 HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES
Don't always just shoot down on the butterfly to get the wings in
focus - get down on their level as well, and make sure the eyes are
in focus. Don't feel you have to always include the whole butterfly
in the shot either. If your lens can focus close enough, try going for
some higher magnification shots.
When you are in a location with lots of butterflies about, look at the
condition of the butterfly's wings. A newly emerged butterfly will
look much better than an old one with tattered wings.
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12. HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH BUTTERFLIES 11
Butterfly photography can be difficult, but it is also very rewarding. We should be thankful that they are around at the warmer time of the year, making
photographing them much more pleasant for us.
They are a subject that is easy to find, whether you have a garden or see them on the flowers in the local park. And although not everyone is fond of
caterpillars, almost everybody will appreciate a good butterfly photograph.
For more photography advice and tips, updated with new
tips on a regular basis, make sure you check out
www.discoverdigitalphotography.com
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