How to Take Beautiful Butterfly Photos

Here are my best tips for taking beautiful butterfly pictures!

zebra swallowtail (Protographium marcellus) on Double Scoop Bubble Gum echinacea

 1. Plant flowers. No flowers, no butterflies. Providing the right plants is essential to attracting butterflies. Besides my all-time favorite summer perennials, zinnias and cosmos are two other butterfly magnets.

eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on zinnia

 2. Shoot in broad daylight. Plenty of sunshine is the secret to getting bright, vibrant colors that pop. I’ve also found that butterflies are most active during the middle of the day.

monarch (Danaus plexippus) on orange butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

 3. Check the background. Before taking any picture, I always ask myself, “How does the background look? Are there any distracting buildings or unnatural colors?” A great foreground can be ruined with a distracting background. I really like to shoot looking across on ground level to achieve a soft, green background.

sleepy orange (Eurema nicippe) on zinnia

 4. Set up your camera correctly. I usually photograph butterflies with a wide ƒ-stop, a fast shutter speed, and a telephoto or macro lens. If don’t have a DSLR user, there are lots of free smartphone apps that let you manipulate your phone camera’s settings. However, there is no substitute for a good lens!

This is actually not a butterfly, but a species of moth called a snowberry clearwing (Hemaris diffinis). Using a fast shutter speed helped me capture its quick wingbeats!

 5. Be patient. Some butterflies are shy and need a minute to warm up to your presence. If you notice a lot of traffic to one particular flower or plant, try pointing your camera there and waiting for the butterflies to land.

eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii)

Do you have any more tips and tricks for taking great butterfly photos? I’d love to hear in the comments below!