Some Background

I've been interested in entomology (yes, moths and other insects too!) from about the age of 8. That was, indeed, a very long time ago. A childhood spent growing up in rural Gloucestershire, and the plethora of wildlife that surrounded me, has clearly influenced the lifelong fascination I've had with butterflies. Ever since I can remember, there's always been a jam jar containing "something" in the house every summer.

Even during my teenage years, when I was at my most troublesome (according to my mum!), I still maintained an interest in butterflies. And that interest has never waned. Even now, many years later, married with 3 sons (the eldest is 18 this year!), I still have the odd jam jar on the window sill ... and foodplants growing in the garden (my wife is aware of some - but not all!) ... and "weeds" in selected areas of the garden. They're all there for a reason.

Until relatively recently, I was never that "hooked" on photography. I had a very old SLR that my dad bought for me for my 15th birthday, together with a close-up adapter that fitted on the front of the lens, but that was it. I remember using it to photograph the commoner species, and still have photos taken with it, including Orange-Tip, Puss Moth, Emperor Moth and the like.

The Move to Digital

My chosen career in computing ensured that I had no fear of technology - although I appreciate some people do (and I still don't know how to work the video recorder, but my 3 sons help me out on that front). In 2002 I bought my first digital camera - an "Olympus 2040 Zoom" model. A whopping 2.1 megapixels resolution (non-digital SLRs given about 11 megapixels resolution!). But within 2 days I was hooked. The experience was so different from my old camera, for reasons that are well-documented:

• I saw my pictures instantly.

• I could take as many pictures as I liked.

• The overall quality of my pictures was better (because I took more, and binned those that were rubbish!).

A number of the photos on this website are taken with that camera, even though it would be considered "dated" and inferior by today's standards. Since this website is "self-improving" (the best contributions always take precedence), these will disappear over time. Here's a photo of an Adonis Blue taken with this camera. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

My First (and Current) Digital SLR

In 2004 I took a trip to the US and, attracted by the exchange rate, decided to buy my first digital SLR - a Canon EOS 10D (6 megapixels). Although this model was superseded by the Canon EOS 20D in late 2004, it's still a nice piece of kit and absolute bargains can be found on eBay and the like. I also bought a Sigma 100mm macro lens (which is superb) and later purchased a Canon macro flash unit to complete the kit.

Just so that you can see the difference in quality (although this is difficult on a website, where the images are deliberately of a low quality to ensure fast download times), an similar example of an Adonis Blue is shown. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

The Trouble with Butterflies

This is where the real fun begins. I have quite a simple story to tell on this front, borne out of my (and others) experiences. You need to know the basics of apertures, shutter speeds and depth-of-field, but it goes like this:

• Butterflies are constantly on the move. Using a tripod isn't practical because the critters don't stay still long enough. In order to avoid "camera shake" or (I guess) "butterfly shake", you need to set a fast shutter speed.

• THIS REDUCES THE AMOUNT OF EXPOSURE.

• Butterflies are small. In order to get a decent composition within the camera frame, you need to get close up.

• Because you're close up, you need a large depth-of-field.

• Because you need a large depth-of-field, you need to close the aperture down (given that the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth-of-field - this is something that many inexperienced photographers don't appreciate - but it's VERY IMPORTANT!!!).

• THIS REDUCES THE AMOUNT OF EXPOSURE.

• So I hope you can see the problem is that there isn't enough light (even half-decent sunshine may not be sufficient) to allow a fast shutter speed (to reduce shake) as well as a small aperture (to increase depth-of-field).

I use 2 solutions when attempting to address the problem of insufficient light. The first is to increase the light sensitivity of the camera by increasing the ISO rating. I typically use an ISO rating of 200, since higher ISO ratings tend to produce "grainier" pictures. I then set the camera to Shutter Priority (where I can set the shutter speed and get the camera to determine the aperture) and set a speed of 1/250 seconds. If the resulting shot has a wide aperture then I know that the depth-of-field will be comprimised and I then revert to the second solution.

This is to introduce artificial light through the use of a flash unit. With a flash unit I can increase the shutter speed and close down the aperture, and still get enough light to get the right exposure. Flash units introduce their own problems (such as "black backgrounds" and "unnatural shadows"), but I believe these are surmountable, and will write another article in the not-too-distant future to go over some of these pitfalls and how to overcome them.

2005 Highlight

The highlight of 2005 has already happened on the photography front as far as I'm concerned. This year, 4 of my photos are included in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Butterfly and Moth Report for 2004. When I look at the other photographers that are included in the same report, I can only feel humbled that my photos are worthy of inclusion!

My Favourite Photo

I get asked this now and again, and it's the hardest question to answer since all photos capture so much more than the final image - the amount of preparation, the time it took to compose, the amount of "stalking" required and, of course, luck. If I had to provide an answer, it would be the photo of a mating pair of Black Hairstreak, because:

• It took my 3 hours to get to the location (Monk's Wood in Cambridgeshire).

• I'd never seen Black Hairstreak before.

• I had no idea if I'd see Black Hairstreak at all.

• I was at Monk's Wood for 5 hours before I got this shot.

• I was about to leave the site when a family of Long-Tailed Tits flew into a Blackthorn bush and dislodged the mating pair that then settled, at head height, on a nearby bush.

• It's possibly a sight that I'll never experience again in my lifetime.

So even though I have much better pictures than this (from a photographic point of view), this will always be a special "moment" as far as I'm concerned.