NOTES ABOUT THE BUTTERFLY AND MOTH PHOTOS
Tom Peterson

    Butterfly photos.
    Unless otherwise noted, photos are of free, unrestrained butterflies.  Photos are mostly of local butterflies, in Kane County or western DuPage County, Illinois.  Many of the photos were taken at Nelson Lake Marsh, about 8 miles west of Fermilab in Kane County, Illinois, where I am a volunteer butterfly monitor.
    Photos through the year 2001 were taken with my personal Sony Hi-8 camcorder and video-captured using "Snappy" (by Play, Inc.) on my Dell PC at home.  One might think, as I did at first, that it would be easy to wave the camcorder at active butterflies and select good shots with video-capture software.  However, not only does a camcorder, like any camera, have a certain "shutter speed" which cannot freeze rapid motion, but I found that much video is not in truly sharp focus.  So I use the camera much like a still camera, manually focussing and manually adjusting exposure with a resting butterfly in view.  Thus, I end up with about 5 to 10 seconds of video per shot, and the whole summer of photos requires only about an hour of video tape.  It is quite easy to select and capture just the desired pose on screen from video of, for example, a butterfly pumping its wings or actively getting nectar at a flower.  Although the quality of video capture is limited, the camcorder is an easy way to obtain reasonably good photos.
    From 2002 through 2005, most photos are taken with a Nikon 885 digital camera, providing better resolution and better color.  One of my first with this camera and still one of my favorites is of the mating pair of Great Spangled Fritillaries.
    In 2006, I switched to a Canon A620, and since 2010 most photos have been taken with a Canon G11.  I use the compact "point and shoot" camera in close-up mode, just a few inches from the butterflies.  This allows me to easily carry the camera on walks in order to take advantage of opportunities.  Photos are then mostly in natural light, without flash, although I have found “fill flash” in bright sun often provides more uniform lighting. 
    The problem with this method, of course, is to get very close to resting butterflies.  Some butterflies, like the Coppers and the Gray Comma, make it easy by repeatedly returning to the same flower or perch.  A cool, sunny day when the butterfly is warming itself in the sun or an extremely attractive nectar source like thistle can provide relatively tame butterflies.  However, many of the photos, like those of the female dark form of the the Tiger Swallowtail, were just lucky encounters, and the butterflies were gone seconds after shooting the picture. 

    Moth photos.
    Unlike the butterflies, many of the moth photos are of captive individuals.  Many moths rest with wings folded tent-like over their bodies, but the hind wings may provide important clues for identification.  Since many of these moths rest so soundly during the day, one can push the front wing forward to reveal the hind wing.  I like to manipulate the moth this way in captivity, in case it does try to fly before I get a decent photo.  Captive moths are generally placed on a sheet of white paper for photography.  Thus, you will see some photos of moths on white paper, often with one front wing lifted to reveal the hind wing.  Except for a few invasive pests like the gypsy moths, I release those moths which I have captured after photographing them.