What makes a good Butterfly photo......

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

........to you?

I've noticed that alot of butterfly photographs are very close up affairs, with very little else than the butterfly itself being seen in the shot.

Now to me i prefere my shots to have some of the surrounding area in the shot as well, the plant it's on etc to give the picture a little bit more.

What do you prefere to see?

[Fourwings]

It's a good question and there are probably loads of answers as photography is an art form and is therefore a very personal thing, everyone has their own ideas on what makes a good image.
As an Insect photographer that works almost exclusively with macro lenses I prefer to try and isolate my subject matter as much as possible. Butterflies have a habit of settling on flowers,plants,ground etc... that is very complicated and highly detailed and this can seriously detract from an image that is meant to show the species in high detail for identifcation/study purposes, such as this image of Green Hairstreak.



On the other hand if the image isn't needed for recording or nature study purposes its often nice to try to include some of the habitat or food plant that the Butterfly is perched on, these images are often more pleasing to the vast majority of folk as they are usually more colourful and are more like the Butterflies as they would see them, this image of a Peacock was taken with the intention of including the Blackthorn flowers on which it was feeding.



Final thought - Any good image of a Butterfly is worth getting, they can be the most frustrating of insects to photograph and on hot days very rarely keep still for many seconds, in short, any image that conveys the natural beauty of a Butterfly is a good one.

Steve.

[glsammy]

I much prefer to get some surroundings into the image, but often the insect doesn't oblige by being in some odd unattractive place, or resting on a piece of dead nettle, in which case I'd try and limit the background as much as possible.

This is the type of shot I'd prefer if possible:




But often have to settle for this:

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Thanks for the replies, i think the shots you have posted are stunning, especially the Orange Tip. Just right with the flower and butterfly. I'm a relitive newcomer to taking butterfly picture and the ones i take don't really compare to yours hopefully if i manage to get some better gear in future they'll improve, took this one at lunchtime and it's about as good as it gets for me

[Kymba]

I have tried to take photo's of Butterflies both at a distance and close up. But I have to rush to take them as my dogs try to catch them both as they are flying and as soon as they land. So far everyone has come out Blurred

[richardkm]

Have a look at this site for some stunning butterfly pics. Tony Pioli won the Leica photographic prize for his butterfly pic a couple of years ago.

.: Tony Pioli's World of Photography :: Galleries :: Nature :: Butterflies and Moths :.

[Newhythebirder]

Some great pictures. I personally have started to try and pull back a little bit to include some space and habitat if possible. I really want to try and improve my pictures of insects this year. These were taken with a 10D and Canon 100-400 IS at 400mm - I tend to use this more than my Sigma 180mm Macro/Tamron 90mm Macro for this type of shot.

[goosey]

Originally Posted by Newhythebirder

Some great pictures. I personally have started to try and pull back a little bit to include some space and habitat if possible. I really want to try and improve my pictures of insects this year. These were taken with a 10D and Canon 100-400 IS at 400mm - I tend to use this more than my Sigma 180mm Macro/Tamron 90mm Macro for this type of shot.

Hi Steve, I've just been looking at your Blog and you have some really impressive images on there , I'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite!

[Kev Lewis]

A clean non-distracting background and sharp. Focus should be the eye first and DoF to cover the rest of the butterfly. If the eye isn't sharp then I throw them in the bin.

[richardkm]

Originally Posted by Newhythebirder

Some great pictures. I personally have started to try and pull back a little bit to include some space and habitat if possible. I really want to try and improve my pictures of insects this year. These were taken with a 10D and Canon 100-400 IS at 400mm - I tend to use this more than my Sigma 180mm Macro/Tamron 90mm Macro for this type of shot.

Hi

Do you use the 25mm extension tube on your 100-400?