David Dennis Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

Butterflies in Flight require very different techniques than birds, since the butterflies are very fast-moving for their size, and aligining their bodies with camera focus points is very tricky.

I found that a technique suggested by Thom Hogan of bythom.com very effective.

You start by divorcing autofocus from the shutter release. On the Nikon D4 (and most other Nikon SLRs, I believe), this is called AF Activation under the custom shooting menu, autofocus submenu. You set it to AF-ON only as opposed to Shutter/AF-On.

When this is done, the camera will only autofocus when you have the AF-ON button pressed. When the shutter release is held down, it will not shift focus before taking the picture.

To shoot, aim your focus point at the subject, and press the AF-ON button to focus. It may take several tries for you to get focus on the butterfly instead of the background, but once you do, release AF-ON and keep shooting until the butterfly makes a significant move forward or backward. When that happens, re-focus and resume shooting.

I was amazed at what beautifully focused images I got with this special technique!

All shots taken in the Butterfly World theme park, Pompano Beach, Florida. Nikon D4, 70-200 f/2.8 Nikkor lens.

Butterfly in Flight!


On Purple Flower


Mating Dance of the Butterflies

rlaugh Loc: Michigan & Florida

Wow oh wow..great shots!

angler Loc: StHelens England

Excellent shots.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Those are amazing. #2 is my favorite - WOW! Thanks so much for information, too. Welcome to UHH. Hope you enjoy!

David Dennis Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

I think of this as the fun photographic forum where people share their joy in taking pictures. A lot of the places with greater levels of expertise seem populated with people determined to cut each other down, and if I wanted that, I would have stayed in high school :).

Hope you spend some time down here in Florida, the weather's beautiful this time of year :).

Blue Morpho says hello!

David

Bruce with a Canon Loc: Islip

< Highly impressed, Great control, technique execution!

David Dennis Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

Thanks for the kind words, Bruce!

Interestingly enough, this was the first time I used this particular technique, and things just came together beautifully for these shots!

It was also the first time I used my super-sharp 70-200 f/2.8 Nikon lens at Butterfly World. Before I used the 28-300. I got a lot of cool shots with that lens, but the new one is so much sharper and quicker to focus. Of course my wallet is still smarting from the monetary extraction process over at the camera store, but I'm satisfied the lens is, in fact, worth every penny I paid.

D

Ken W Loc: Long Island Ny

Excellent photos and technique. Oh, do you know how to return to highschool? Ken

David Dennis Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed the butterflies :).

Can't say I would want to return to high school. Would love to reverse aging to 18 years, though, but wouldn't want to give up the experience and financial resources I have now :).

Still haven't figured out how to do that ageing reversal, though. Know I'd make a bloody fortune if I figured it out :).

D

Erv Loc: Medina Ohio

Very nice thread David!! Some awesome work. I thought maybe you would like to see these I got in the yard last year. :) Was fun to see and I got very lucky.:):)
Erv
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-54858-1.html

bewithabob Loc: Dallas TX

Oh my gosh, David. You are incredibly talented, and have some great patience to get these shots. Wonderful, and thanks for sharing them!

David Dennis Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

You are most welcome!

It didn't take that much patience, though. Butterfly World has something like 20,000 butterflies in a one acre space, so there is always something magical going on. The experience is like scuba diving with butterflies, and I recommend it highly :).

But it did take a lot of practice and experience to get the shots. I've taken over 18,000 pictures in Butterfly World in the last year or so.

D

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Sooo, how does it focus so close ???

David Dennis Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

(Assuming you are referring to the butterfly close-up).

It doesn't. The photo is heavily cropped. The fact that it still looks as good as it does heavily cropped is great testimony to the quality of the lens :).

D

Dr Tare Loc: Central California

It is a great technique, it is call "back button focus" I believe. I switched to it some time ago. Once you get used to it, it is the best way to auto focus, at least I think so. I use it all the time now. Focus on what you want to, release the back button and recompose your shot, pushing the shutter button doesn't then re auto focus (I know, no such word).
You did excellant with this on the Butterflys.
Thanks for sharing. :thumbup: ;)