A Lazy Man's Guide to Photographing Insects: Butterflies and Dragonflies

A great and wonderful How-To photograph insects, brought to you by me. Who else?

Butterflies

^{Example of a butterfly. Just making sure we're on the same page here.}

When you see a butterfly you want to photograph, you can run after it until it lands, stop running, approach it slowly and sneakily, and get some photos.

Or not; it may have moved again by the time you reach it, or you could startle it before you can get a good shot. This might make you say things like:

"Damn you, you bloody bastard of a butterfly", or simply "Fuck",

which is not good for your blood pressure and also not a nice thing to say to a butterfly that is innocently going about its business.

All this can be very frustrating, irksome, and tiring.

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Fortunately, there is a better and more relaxed way of going about it:

• Find a patch of flowers that are liked by many species, like mint, thistles, or garlic root, preferably with few other flowers nearby;
• Sit down;
• Get your camera ready;
• Have a beverage of choice;
• Wait for a butterfly to land;
• Wait for it to eat, because then it will sit still;
• Make a photo.

The links in the text above lead to some examples of photos made this way. Hint: you can only still vote for garlic root.

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Dragonflies

The procedure for dragonflies is different, as they can't be bothered with visiting flowers:

• Find a spot in the sun near water;
• Find a small stick;
• Sit down;
• Get your camera ready;
• Hold up the stick;
• Have a beverage of choice;
• Wait for a dragonfly to land on your stick;
• Make a photo, like so:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO200, f5.6, 1/160s}

An advantage of having a dragonfly-on-a-stick is, that you can turn it around and hold it at the right angle against a suitable background; many dragonflies don't mind that:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO200, f5.6, 1/125s}

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 42mm, ISO200, f5.6, 1/125s}

If you can't find a stick, a finger will also do:

^{Olympus XZ-1, 112mm, ISO100, f8, 1/160s}

Admittedly, if you're alone, this method requires being able to photograph with one hand, but once that has been mastered, it is far more relaxing than the alternative, which, as I said, involves a lot of moving about, sweating, and cursing.

Should you be one of those fanatics who goes out with more equipment, like a tripod (or a spouse or child) and a remote control, you can use a stick stuck into the ground, set up the camera and focus it on the tip of the stick, and then retreat with your remote and your beverage to a comfortable place nearby.

Much better.

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I rarely apply these methods, of course, and great effort goes into making the photos I show you, no laziness here, no, not me, I work hard for the content I provide, yes indeed I do, unlike some others I could mention. Just saying.

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Happy hunting!