Photographing butterflies is a rewarding hobby that can bring you closer to nature.
By planting a butterfly-friendly garden, you can easily find them right in your own backyard.
There’s no one right way to photograph a butterfly, it’s all about your personal style. You can capture them with their wings spread wide or folded, from the front or in profile. Taking photos of butterflies with open wings or side views showcases their vivid colors and intricate patterns, making identification easier.
Time of Day Matters
The time of day plays a crucial role. Aim to shoot early morning or late afternoon for the best lighting. Butterflies are often more stationary as they warm up in the sun, making it easier to capture them before they take flight.
Getting Close to Your Subject
To capture stunning butterfly photographs, focus on getting close to your subject for fine details. Use a macro or telephoto lens to fill the frame with the butterfly. Approaching quietly and slowly often allows butterflies to stay still long enough for a good shot. If you're using a COOLPIX camera, try turning on Macro mode for super-close shots.
If you don’t have a macro lens, a telephoto lens can work wonders too. Check your camera’s manual to find the closest focusing distance with your current lens. For full-frame camera users, consider using the DX Crop Mode to crop in on your subject, or crop later during editing.
Shoot Wide Open for Beautiful Bokeh
To make your butterfly stand out from the background, shoot with a wide-open aperture. This will create a soft, blurred backdrop known as bokeh, making your subject pop even more.
Composition Tips
Composition is a matter of personal style, but here are a few basics to get started. A close-up shot can highlight intricate details on a butterfly’s body, while a wider shot can show the butterfly in its environment, such as the flowers or branches it’s resting on.
Visualize a tic-tac-toe grid in your viewfinder and place the butterfly at one of the intersections. This creates a balanced, natural look. For a more natural feel, always have the butterfly facing into the frame, leaving space in the direction it’s heading. This gives your shot a dynamic quality and shows where the butterfly is going.
Look for Patterns and Textures
Butterfly wings are often covered in fascinating, repetitive patterns. These can make for striking, textured images. Whether you're focusing on the wings' designs or the overall shape of the butterfly, look for ways the patterns complement the composition.
How to Photograph Butterflies
Video by Kevin Hatley Photography
Get Creative with Your Shots
While capturing butterflies in their natural color is always beautiful, don’t shy away from experimenting with creative edits. You can use a Creative Picture Control feature on your camera for a more artistic look. If you're uncertain about the outcome, shoot in RAW so you can adjust the image later. Some cameras also offer RAW + JPG options for flexibility.
Add Fill Light
If you're photographing butterflies in the shade or on overcast days, a small reflector or Speedlight flash can help add extra light and bring out your subject’s details.
Learn About Your Subject
To capture better butterfly photos, it’s helpful to know their lifecycle. Butterflies start as eggs, become larvae, and eventually transform into caterpillars, before entering the chrysalis stage and emerging as mature butterflies. Familiarize yourself with a butterfly’s anatomy: the head, antennae, compound eyes, proboscis (which they use to drink nectar), thorax, abdomen, and forewings and hindwings. This knowledge will help you frame your shots more effectively.
The Monarch Butterfly Migration
While most butterflies only live for a few weeks, Monarch butterflies are an exception. They embark on the incredible Monarch Butterfly Migration, traveling south for the winter. Monarchs from the east of the Rockies head to Mexico, while those on the west side migrate to Southern California. Visitors can watch the migration in the fall and even visit butterfly reserves to witness this amazing event.
Where to Find Butterflies
Butterflies are often found in dedicated butterfly houses, which are essentially large, screen-enclosed areas filled with flowering plants. Many butterfly houses also have knowledgeable staff and may even house caterpillars at different stages of their metamorphosis.
Parks, botanical gardens, and natural reserves are other great places to see butterflies in their habitats. By planting a butterfly-friendly garden at home, you can attract butterflies year-round. Choose nectar-rich flowers and plants like milkweed to help support both butterflies and caterpillars, and you might even catch a glimpse of a caterpillar transforming into a chrysalis!
