HOW TO SHOOT BUTTERFLIES
With a little patience and perseverance, you can capture amazing shots of butterflies. Read on for all the tips you need to wing it...
THE WARMER, LONGER DAYS OF SPRING herald the emergence of a whole host of spectacular insects. The skies will by buzzing with bees and acrobatic dragonflies, while among the undergrowth, colourful beetles and other mini beasts busily scurry about. At first, photographing insects might hold limited appeal, but in frame-filling close-up. their colour, beauty and intricate design is revealed. Simply put: bugs make great pictures. Of all the insects, butterflies are unquestionably the most popular, beautiful and
photogenic. Thanks to their colourful and varied markings and graceful flight, most people adore them - even self-confessed 'insect-phobes'. If you have attempted to photograph butterflies before, maybe at a butterfly house or in your own back garden, you will already know that they can be challenging subjects. They are easily disturbed, with a nasty habit of flying away just you are about to trigger the shutter. Even the largest UK species - like red admiral and peacock - only have a wingspan of around 70mm, so to capture frame-filling images of butterflies, a high level of magnification is required. A macro lens is the perfect tool for the job - particularly one with a focal length upwards of 90mm, as this provides a practical working distance.
While the perfect choice of optic, a macro lens is a costly tem and so, unless you are a close-up enthusiast it makes more sense to opt for an inexpensive close - jp attachment instead .While cost-effective, the big disadvantage of using either a close-up filter or extension tube is that you have to get closer to the subject, increasing the risk of frightening flighty subjects away. They do, however, provide a great introduction to the fascinating world of close-up photography. At the risk of stating the obvious, before you can photograph butterflies this spring, you first need to locate them. Butterfly numbers are sadly in decline, so you may have to travel a tew miles in order to find suitable environments. Different butterflies require different habitats and food plants - some enjoy grassland, while others prefer heathland, woodland or chalky downs. Research is the key. Spend time reading about butterfly types, where to find them and when. Search the internet for suitable local reserves, or better still, join your local Wildlife Trust and mix with the experts.
It is easiest to find butterfl es during the day, when they are most active. However, you will probably find they rarely settle or allow you dose enough to take pictures. Instead, it is better to visit habitats early in the morning, or during the evening, when butterflies are less active or roosting among vegetation or tall grasses. Search carefully - always being careful of where you tread. Still days are best as even the slightest breeze will move the subject about Having located a butterfly, move yourself into position slowly. Avoid disturbing the surrounding vegetation, or casting your shadow across the insect - doing so will frighten the insect away. On cool mornings, before the insect is warm enough to fly, it may be possible to employ a tripod. This is hugely advantageous, a ding both pinpoint focusing and composition. If you have to shoot handheld, switch on the image stabiliser if you have it, or employ a workable fast shutter speed, upwards of l/200sec, to eliminate camera movement. Before releasing the shutter, search the background for anything distracting. If necessary, adjust your shooting position to exclude anything that might draw the eye away from your subject
photogenic. Thanks to their colourful and varied markings and graceful flight, most people adore them - even self-confessed 'insect-phobes'. If you have attempted to photograph butterflies before, maybe at a butterfly house or in your own back garden, you will already know that they can be challenging subjects. They are easily disturbed, with a nasty habit of flying away just you are about to trigger the shutter. Even the largest UK species - like red admiral and peacock - only have a wingspan of around 70mm, so to capture frame-filling images of butterflies, a high level of magnification is required. A macro lens is the perfect tool for the job - particularly one with a focal length upwards of 90mm, as this provides a practical working distance.
While the perfect choice of optic, a macro lens is a costly tem and so, unless you are a close-up enthusiast it makes more sense to opt for an inexpensive close - jp attachment instead .While cost-effective, the big disadvantage of using either a close-up filter or extension tube is that you have to get closer to the subject, increasing the risk of frightening flighty subjects away. They do, however, provide a great introduction to the fascinating world of close-up photography. At the risk of stating the obvious, before you can photograph butterflies this spring, you first need to locate them. Butterfly numbers are sadly in decline, so you may have to travel a tew miles in order to find suitable environments. Different butterflies require different habitats and food plants - some enjoy grassland, while others prefer heathland, woodland or chalky downs. Research is the key. Spend time reading about butterfly types, where to find them and when. Search the internet for suitable local reserves, or better still, join your local Wildlife Trust and mix with the experts. It is easiest to find butterfl es during the day, when they are most active. However, you will probably find they rarely settle or allow you dose enough to take pictures. Instead, it is better to visit habitats early in the morning, or during the evening, when butterflies are less active or roosting among vegetation or tall grasses. Search carefully - always being careful of where you tread. Still days are best as even the slightest breeze will move the subject about Having located a butterfly, move yourself into position slowly. Avoid disturbing the surrounding vegetation, or casting your shadow across the insect - doing so will frighten the insect away. On cool mornings, before the insect is warm enough to fly, it may be possible to employ a tripod. This is hugely advantageous, a ding both pinpoint focusing and composition. If you have to shoot handheld, switch on the image stabiliser if you have it, or employ a workable fast shutter speed, upwards of l/200sec, to eliminate camera movement. Before releasing the shutter, search the background for anything distracting. If necessary, adjust your shooting position to exclude anything that might draw the eye away from your subject
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| Manual Mode (M), Exposure 1/320 sec at f/5.6 ISO 250 |
. Alternatively, select a wider aperture to help throw background detail quickly out of focus. Do bear in mind that, at high magnifications, depth-of-field is naturally shallow. Therefore, in order to keep the insect sharp throughout - and maximise thedepth- of field available at any given f/stop keep your camera parallel to the subject.
Admittedly, photographing butterflies can prove a fiddly and frustrating business Re prepared to crawl through the undergrowth and put up with lots of 'near misses'. However, with gcod preparation and perseverance, you too will be taking great butterfly images this spring.
1. Locate the subject
To photograph butterflies,
you first need to know where, when and what to look for For example, a
local reserve close to me is home to hundreds of cuckoo flowers - a food
plant of orange-tip butterflies. I set my alarm for daybreak and, after
careful searchinq, find a butterfly clinging to one of the blooms.
I move into picture-taking range slowly, being careful not to disturb surrounding vegetation. A low viewpoint will often provide the most natural-locking results, so I lay on the ground and use my elbows as support. I select a small aperture of f/15 to help generate a wide depth-of-field, but doing so creates a distracting, messy background
To help the butterfiy stand out from its background.I set a wide aperture of f/5.6 to render the background as an attractive blur. The disadvantage of employing a larger aperture is that focusing has to be precise, due to the limited depth-of-field. To aid focusing, I carefully set up my tripod nearby and also use Live View.
4. Lighting
Although the result was better, detail in the wing was obscured by shade. To relieve the shadows. I used a small reflector to angle light onto the butterfly to reveal the beauty and detail in its under-wing. In situations like this, when the subject is static, a reflector gives more control than using flash, and the final result still looks natural
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