www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

There are loads of threads here showing great shots of lovely butterflies. I thought it would be a bit of fun to show the ones that didn't quite work out......

This is the only shot I have of a skipper called Mesodina aeluropis. I spent a whole day looking for it, and only saw one specimen. It flew up and down the track for a long time, and only settled long enough for me to get one shot. Well, the pebble behind is nicely in focus.......

Your not alone Sooty. It happens to me a lot!
Never mind! All good practice.

Cheers
Denise

Respect for owning up! Me, I've way too many and hide them all!

Sooty,

I don't know if you use a compact or a more expensive camera. I use a compact (Canon Powershot) and for my first record shot of a one-off or volatile butterfly like this I always jack up the digital zoom until the insect fills most of the screen. That way, the camera focuses on the butterfly and not the terrain behind it. Some species (particularly those with cryptic undersides) seem quite invisible to the focusing mechanism unless they completely block the focusing rectangle. This cheap and tacky method means I almost always get an acceptable record shot - then I can take some time to get a good picture if the butterfly allows me to. My camera has 6x optical zoom and up to 24x including digital. As any photographer will point out, the digital zoom gives no extra detail, but it does aid the focus.

I also use central focus as the default, rather than flexi-focus, otherwise the camera finds something it thinks is more interesting than the butterfly to concentrate on!!

If you have a DSLR or some better camera this advice is probably irrelevant to you.

Guy

That particular shot was taken with a compact camera. But I'm truly gifted - I can produce a shot like that with any camera

I just thought it would be fun to have a thread for pics that didn't quite turn out as hoped. To be honest, it occurred to me after seeing your pic of a blue with your dog right behind it......