Knowledge of butterfly shooting skills

Butterflies are small and exquisite. Even if there are many tall buildings in the city, beautiful butterflies can be found in the Woods. I wonder how photographers should cherish and capture this gift from nature with their cameras.

1. Understand the characteristics of butterflies first.

There are many kinds of butterflies, and each butterfly has a different life cycle, butterfly formation time and haunt. Therefore, if you want to catch your favorite butterflies, you must first understand their habits. Pan Ruihui suggested that the data of the target butterflies can be found from the butterfly picture book first, and then they can be photographed in a suitable place according to their infestation time, which naturally increases the success rate.

2. Temperature affects the appearance of butterflies.

Butterflies are warm animals, and their body temperature is influenced by the external environment. Too high or too low is not suitable for activities, so butterflies only appear in a certain temperature range. Butterflies are generally the most active in the temperature range of 20℃-28℃. If the temperature is higher than 30℃, most butterflies will hide in trees or grass, which is difficult to be detected.

The time depends on the season.

The temperature changes constantly throughout the day, and butterflies only move at the most suitable ambient temperature. In summer, butterflies usually appear before 10: 30 and between 3: 30 pm and dusk, but in winter, butterflies are just the opposite. They like it from 10 to 4 pm.

4. Whether to use the flash varies from butterfly to butterfly.

Some butterflies are afraid of flash, others are not, so whether to choose flash depends on the individual butterfly. But in broad daylight, photographers don't need a flash, and natural light is enough to take photos with sufficient exposure. Usually photographers need to use flash to assist macro shooting.

5. Eating is the best time to shoot.

Butterflies are very attentive when eating, so it is not easy to detect the existence of foreign objects, so photographers can wait for butterflies to eat for a while before taking pictures, and the success rate will be greatly increased.

Slow motion performance

Shooting animals is most afraid of disturbing the subject. In order to avoid scaring butterflies, photographers should not rush forward immediately after seeing butterflies. If they know that they are impulsive, photographers can catch butterflies from a distance so as not to be too excited to disturb them. Photographers should slow down as much as possible, or even wait for a while in the butterfly-infested area. This helps the photographer to integrate into the environment, which can not only prevent the butterfly from flying away due to sudden vibration, but also make the butterfly mistakenly think that the photographer is a part of the environment. In addition, try to avoid touching a flower and a grass when walking, because butterflies can't smell its sound, but they can feel the vibration, so sometimes they don't even speak too loudly.

7. Pay attention to the lens color

Butterflies are sensitive to colors with high reflectivity. The lighter the color, the higher the reflectivity. Some lenses with white shells may touch butterflies. Photographers can cover the white part of the lens with dark or camouflage cloth and slow down to reduce the chance that butterflies realize the photographer's existence.

Tips: What is an aperture shutter?

Because the butterfly is the dynamic subject, it is more advantageous to use the shutter first. When the butterfly moves, it is best to adjust the shutter speed of the camera to 1/500 seconds or more. If the butterfly is at rest, the aperture gives priority to helping photographers create different depth of field effects. When shooting tiny butterflies, photographers often have to keep quite close to the subject. If a large depth of field is needed, the aperture will be narrowed to reduce the exposure, and then the photographer may need to use a flash to assist.