Buttrflies in my stomach?

Nope, not really; having nothing better to do and the fact that I took some shots yesterday at the KL Butterfly Park and I wasn't too pleased with them. I went off to KL Butterfly Park again today.

Now... it is worth noting that this place is actually one of my favorite places to be when I have too much free time. It's a nice cool place to relax whilst being surrounded by nature and at the same time, I can take some nice photos which might be useful as stock photos. Business and pleasure mixed in one. Hehe...

First of all, I have to say that I like to photograph butterflies. Secondly, butterflies have extremely erratic flight patterns and behaviour. Thirdly, butterflies are small(ish).

All these things combined make photographing butterflies rather tough and despite what many people believe, you don't really need a dedicated macro lens to photograph live butterflies. First, arm yourself with a longish telephoto (anything from 135mm or above) that is capable of doing at least 0.20x reproduction and then, all you need is plenty of patience.

What I have been doing recently is to find a spot where I can shoot in quite a few good directions with blooming flowers on them and that has interesting lighting and just wait there. One thing I have noted is that butterflies seem to favor flowers that are in the sunlight rather than in the shade but no flowers that have been in the sunlight for hours till they become completely dry.

Remember, try beforehand by looking through the viewfinder to determine if the spot you are standing at can take a decent shot in case if the butterflies decide to pay a visit to one of the flowers around you.

Next, use aperture or shutter priority. I prefer to use aperture and I set the aperture and ISO so that I can get around 1/250s or above to a proper exposure.

Thirdly, prefocus on one of the flowers and then use manual focussing to adjust your focussing as the butterfly flies into your frame.

Finally.... make yourself comfortable and wait... it might be a long wait. Hehe... :p