Getting Sharp Macro Butterfly Pictures

I was taken aback by the 2 photos above when I first viewed it on my computer. I was not expecting to see such sharp images, clear enough to see the finer details on the butterfly (do click on the pictures to enlarge). And the colours, they are just spectacular - totally unanticipated. The only editing that I did on these two photos was to crop and resize them, nothing else.

Previous Attempts

Compare the 2 pictures above with the one below, a picture that I took about a year ago. I think you will agree that this photo is less striking. A little over exposed, I think.

The only difference between now and then is that I decrease the Exposure Compensation by 2 levels from the middle (at -0.70 eV) and to take my macro shots a little further away, at about 6 or 7 inches (compared to about 5 inches or less previously). By accident, I think I have found a better way to take macro pictures of butterflies with my Nikon Coolpix L27 compact camera. Not bad for a camera that I bought for RM 220 (about US$ 50). The weather conditions are similar, by the way. In all the pictures above, it was a very bright and sunny morning.

Due to my previous inexperience, I was thinking that the closer I could positioned my camera to the butterfly, the better the pictures will be. Unfortunately that is not so despite the camera having locked its focus on the butterfly. I am still learning.

Photographing smaller butterflies is a little trickier as the camera has trouble focusing on them. Manual focusing would help, but unfortunately this feature is not available on my camera. The best that I could do is to take multiple shots and just hope for the best outcome. If I may add, sometimes I get none.

Two More Butterflies

I haven't tried my new found technique on other insects or bugs yet. But I did on two other butterflies. Just two because photographing butterflies is never easy as they tend to fly away when approached. Chasing after them is always fruitless.

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