Photographing butterflies with morning dew

Sunday 2 May 2021, 13:31 by Erik Nevels | 6,185 views | 6 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Today, as forecast, the weather conditions are on our side. Almost no wind, sunshine and dew. My friend and I have arranged to meet in the 't Ham nature reserve near Horst in North Limburg.

We are looking for the orange-tip, a beautiful day-flying butterfly that can mainly be seen from April to June when the weather is warm enough.

Everything ready

At half past seven I park my car at 't Ham, collect my gear and walk into the area. My friend arrived earlier and points me towards 'the second field' by phone.

She has also already found two orange-tips. So I am walking towards a well-prepared setup.

Cuckoo flowers

10 minutes later I am at the 'second field' and she points out a male hanging from a cuckoo flower, completely covered in dew drops.

The fact that the butterfly is hanging from this particular flower is not a coincidence. The cuckoo flower is one of its host plants, plants that it lives on and where the female lays her eggs. Knowing how this butterfly lives helps you find it.

Dew

The morning dew means that the butterflies cannot fly yet. Their entire bodies are covered in tiny drops, making their wings far too heavy. They first have to dry before the butterfly can take to the air. That gives us the chance and the peace to settle down and take our time.

Initially still

Because there is hardly any wind at first, I can manage with shutter speeds of around 1/320 sec and keep my ISO relatively low. To prevent camera movement, I use the 5-second timer.

After an hour of photographing, it starts to get a little windy and the flower with the butterfly moves from time to time. I now take several photos with almost the same settings until I see that the flower is still at the moment I press the shutter. And if in doubt, I take two more photos.

A cable release would make things much easier. Then I would only press the shutter when the flower is not moving. I really should buy that accessory.

Aperture

The third choice in the exposure triangle concerns the aperture. And this is particularly critical in macro photography. At the maximum aperture of f/2.8 and at a short distance from the subject, the depth of field is so shallow that it is already quite an art just to get the eyes sharply in focus.

If I also want the antennae and folded wings to be sharp, I choose a smaller aperture and also take several shots with different aperture values.

As well as choosing the aperture, I make sure that I point the lens at right angles to the butterfly. That is quite a challenge when you consider that the butterfly occasionally shifts position.

I therefore regularly check whether my camera position is still correct by looking from above and from the side at a distance. My tripod with a tilting centre column is very useful for this.

Focusing

I focus manually, on the eyes. I zoom in on the eyes in the viewfinder or on the screen so that I can focus accurately.

By moving the focus point to the wing and antennae with the joystick, I can check whether they are sharp too.

If they are not, but I want them to be, I first check whether my lens is still at right angles to my subject. If not, I correct this. If it is, I choose a smaller aperture for more depth of field.

Position

Today I start with backlighting. The sun is still relatively low. To prevent the butterfly from becoming a silhouette, I do not choose to overexpose, but use fill light with the help of my reflector.

Sony A7 mark III, 90mm, f/4.0, shutter speed 1/320s, ISO 400
Half an hour later, I decide to photograph the butterfly straight from the front rather than from the side.

Sony A7 mark III, 90mm, f/5.0, shutter speed 1/250s, ISO 800

Flash

An hour after starting, my friend and I change position, or rather, change butterflies. There is still enough dew to continue at a leisurely pace.

To give the backlighting an extra boost, I decide to use flash with remote control. I place the flash behind the butterfly but out of frame and control it using the trigger mounted on the camera. I happily experiment, and the next 45 minutes fly by.

Sony A7 mark III, 90mm, f/3.5, shutter speed 1/200s, ISO 200

Field 3

It is already past 9 when I move to the third field. The area guide, who has appeared in the meantime, discovers even more dewy orange-tips. I have plenty to choose from, but not for much longer.

The dew drops continue to dry and at around half past nine the first wings open or shift, revealing the male's orange tip.

Sony A7 mark III, 90mm, f/4.0, shutter speed 1/200s, ISO 200

Dried out

Time is running out. The dew drops have almost dried. Soon they will fly away. They stayed for so long, but flew away so quickly.

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