Morpho amathonte(1991.11 / Panama)
Olympus OM4, Zuiko21mm F2, f8.5, 1/60, flash, KR
I put my hand about 50cm from the butterfly, and I shot this picture when the butterfly tried to get away from me. I took this photo without using the finder.
Taking a picture of a flying butterfly is very difficult. The butterfly is not that big, and it does not fly in a straight line. So it is very difficult to put the flying butterfly into focus range.
But a butterfly has its butterfly-ness because it flyies like it does. Therefore if you don't take a photograph of a flying butterfly, the excitement of taking a butterfly picture would be less than half.
Therefore, my photographs of butterflies are basically shot chasing.
In order to take a flying butterfly, the shutter speed must be more than 1/500. Even if you set the aperture to f4, to trigger the shutter with 1/500, the sky must be clear.
There is a way to go around this problem by using a more sensitive film, but that would make the whole photograph dirty. That is the reason why I use film whose sensitivity is from ISO 50 to 100.
When I'm taking flying butterfly pictures, I've decided the shutter speed to be 1/500 while if the film is ISO50, I would set the aperature to f5.6, but if the film is ISO100, I would set the aperature to f4.
-- The lens that I use is basically a 100mm macro lens.
-- Shutter speed is always faster than 1/500
--I will always take the picture in manual mode instead of the automatic mode.
--Because the focus does not work with it's measurement on the macro lens, I try to take the photograph as I focus on the subject.
Agrias narcissus narcissus (1993.9 / Brazil)
Nikon F-801S, Sigma15mm F2.8, Fisheye, f8, 1/60, flash, RVP
This Agrias flew down from a tall tree provoked by the smell of bananas. I flung myself around to fly the butterfly which was flying around me with amazing speed.