What camera/lense do you use for butterflies?

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by blackb1rd

I'm aware the pictures I've taken so far are a bit soft but it is a fairly cheap lense (all I can afford at present) on full 250mm for most shots and entirely hand held so I'm not overly worried about that.

In spite of what some on this site say, digital camera images are inherently soft, and unless you have a degree of in-camera sharpening set, you need to do it in image manipulation software - eg Photoshop. This is a scientific fact with sound physics to back it up. Have a Google for 'image sharpening' - you'll get over 4.5 million hits. It's not a 'kludge' or cheat, it's part of normal processing such as cropping, levels adjustment etc..

Jim

[Geoff F]

There is a bit of a knack to using a tripod in the undergrowth. Don't use the legs at full width and raise the centre column to gain height. Exactly the opposite of landscape photography advice. But be careful as the assembly will probably be top heavy and will easily topple over.

A tripod with the legs fully closed is, in effect, a monopod but you also have the option of a full tripod when suitable.

Lift the tripod high so the legs are clear before moving and always move with the legs pointing behind you.

Sharpening, as Jim said, is essential and Unsharp Mask is one of the better options which is just a couple of clicks with Gimp.

Be warned though - Macro photography is addictive and soon becomes expensive!