I have always loved butterflies. They are so colourful, and the way they move is so different to other flying creatures.As part of my photo-a-day project, I was delighted to discover how many different species of butterfly visit our garden.
Recently, a citrus swallowtail butterfly flitted through our garden. The first thing I learned about these butterflies, before I could even identify one for the first time, is that they don’t… sit… still. As butterflies go, they are some of the hardest to photograph because of that. But on that day, a member of this illusive species flitted around for long enough that I could get some good photos.
I tracked the butterfly from branch to branch, focusing as fast as I could and snapping photos hoping some would be useable. It was exhilarating. I was in the zone.
When the butterfly decided to fly away, and I could finally relax again, I realised just how far I have come since March 2020. In the past 12 months alone, I have taken about 11,000 photographs. Maybe about a thousand of those were butterflies. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that butterflies taught me the most about photography.
I would highly recommend learning from butterfly photography, regardless of what you want to do as a photographer. In comparison, everything else will be easier!
So, what can you get out of butterfly photography?
Getting to really know the limits of your camera and lens
Butterflies are difficult subjects to photograph. Even if they do sit still for a long time, like these two common zebra butterflies mating. They are small targets, typically relatively far away from you. So, it really pushes the limits in terms of zoom.
I still use a Nikon P600. I bought this camera years ago because I wanted to have a versatile but light weight camera to take along on my travels. But the 60x zoom also makes it great for photographing butterflies.
Regardless of which camera and lens you have, photographing butterflies will give you lots of first-hand experience with pushing the boundaries. What does your maximum zoom really mean when you are photographing a small target? How much does digital zoom affect photo quality, and is it good enough for your purpose? What are the limits in terms of what your lens can focus on?
Tracking a fast moving, erratic target
Not all butterflies are as hard to track as a citrus swallowtail. Most butterflies will spend at least a few seconds on a flower before moving on. But compared to most other photography subjects, that is still a very short time indeed. Spending time on butterfly photography means that you learn how to zoom into a small target and focus as quickly as you possibly can.
For me this meant learning to really trust the technology. I use program mode, with autofocus set to focus on a single central spot. Even though the autofocus on my camera can be a bit slow, especially in low light conditions, it is still a lot faster than me trying to focus manually.
Your equipment is probably very different from mine, and maybe you are much more skilled with manual focus. But regardless, butterfly photograph will teach you to work super-fast to get a sharp photo before your subject flies away.
Accepting that you are not in control
With landscape photography, you can plan your shot months in advance, and wait for the perfect lighting conditions. With studio photography, you have precise control over positioning and angles and lighting and depth of field. With butterflies, you will learn to go with the flow.
Sometimes a butterfly will perch on a flower at the end of a thin branch, with some good distance between it and the background.Then the background is blurred to perfection almost without trying. Occasionally the lighting will be just perfect for creating that stunning bokeh effect.
But the priorities of a butterflyunfortunately don’t include being a good photography subject. Waiting for that perfect shot would mean missing many good photos along the way. And once you learn to go with the flow, butterfly photography becomes much more fun.
Understanding lighting and exposure
The wings of butterflies are very complex structures. Many butterflies have wings that are partially translucent or even transparent. Some have a sheen on the part the wing that you can only see at certain angles. And the veins on a butterfly’s wings also appear very different depending on angle and lighting.
The butterflies in the above collage are all male common diadem butterflies. But as you can see, the appearance of the wings varies quite a lot depending on the angle of the light and the angle of the wings to the camera.
While you can’t control the lighting and angles, you can observe the effects. And once you start to learn what angle will give you the photo you want, you can wait for the butterfly to turn into that perfect position.
Butterflies also come in a wide variety of colours. That means that you will learn how to (very quickly) change the exposure for a dark butterfly on a very light background or vice versa.
Beautiful photos and fond memories
To photograph butterflies, you need to be out in nature. In your own garden, if you are lucky, or maybe in a botanical garden or a park or a nature reserve. You will be in a place where there are flowers that may attract butterflies. Even if you don’t manage to capture a single butterfly, there are still plenty ofother photo opportunities and good memories to make.
What are you waiting for? Grab your camera and go chase some butterflies!
About Hermien Pellissier
Hermien is an instructional designer and teacher who loves travel and photography.
There are butterflies for about 9 months in her garden as it doesn't get very cold in her part of the country, where it is rare to have a winter day with a minimum of below 0°C.
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Check out Hermien's daily posts on Instagram.
This is Hermien's second guest blog post on
My Creative Everyday.
Journey through Time was published in August 2022.
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