Butterflies and a flower.

[FITBMX]

Went out into the yard the other day and snapped these.
C&C is welcome!

The butterfly photos were taken on my 70-300mm, and are not as sharp as I would like. Is there anything I can to help change that next time?

#1

#2

#3 1/200 sec at f/13 3200ISO

#4 1/640 sec at f/5.6 800ISO

#5 1/640 sec at f/5.6 1600ISO

#6 1/640 sec at f/5.6 1600ISO

#7 1/400 sec at f/5.6 1600ISO

#8 1/400 sec at f/5.6 1600ISO

 

[coastalconn]

Hard to tell without all the exif. What was your shutter speed and what aperture were you shooting at? They look a little underexposed from my end. You could try using some fill flash which could bring out some shadow details. To me it also looks like the focus is off on several of them.. Try to focus on the head if you can. FWIW, I like #4 the best, although I would crop it a little different..

 

[mmaria]

Hard to tell without all the exif. What was your shutter speed and what aperture were you shooting at? They look a little underexposed from my end. To me it also looks like the focus is off on several of them.. Try to focus on the head if you can. FWIW, I like #4 the best, although I would crop it a little different..

agree but disagree about flash. I think that you don't need more equipment, you should work on getting the focus and composition right and observe light...

anyway, I think I haven't shot any butterflies so .... jmo

 

[sm4him]

I'd pretty much agree with what Kris said. Hard to say how you could improve them without seeing the EXIF, but they ARE a little underexposed and most of them are pretty soft; not sure if that's just the lens or missed focus, but if that's a Nikon 70-300, it certainly ought to be capable of much sharper images.

I do like #4 and 6, and those (along with 5) seem to be pretty sharp and with decent exposure. I wish the bottom of the flower wasn't cut off in #6, and like Kris, I'd have cropped #4 differently, but those are decent results.

Butterflies can be just as tough as birds in some ways; be sure you are using a shutter speed fast enough to help eliminate motion blur. If you can't get enough light for a good exposure with a higher shutter speed, then by all means, consider some fill flash; it'll help the pictures "pop" a bit more too.

If you don't have a speedlight, there is nothing wrong with using the popup flash--we tend to lend such disdain to the idea of popup flash, but sometimes the popup flash you actually have is better than doing without anything. A little tip: Diffuse the popup, somehow. A small piece of tupperware, or in a real pinch, I actually carry some tape and tissue paper around with, and tape the tissue paper around the popup to keep the light from being quite so harsh.

 

[FITBMX]

I'd pretty much agree with what Kris said. Hard to say how you could improve them without seeing the EXIF, but they ARE a little underexposed and most of them are pretty soft; not sure if that's just the lens or missed focus, but if that's a Nikon 70-300, it certainly ought to be capable of much sharper images.

I do like #4 and 6, and those (along with 5) seem to be pretty sharp and with decent exposure. I wish the bottom of the flower wasn't cut off in #6, and like Kris, I'd have cropped #4 differently, but those are decent results.

Butterflies can be just as tough as birds in some ways; be sure you are using a shutter speed fast enough to help eliminate motion blur. If you can't get enough light for a good exposure with a higher shutter speed, then by all means, consider some fill flash; it'll help the pictures "pop" a bit more too.

If you don't have a speedlight, there is nothing wrong with using the popup flash--we tend to lend such disdain to the idea of popup flash, but sometimes the popup flash you actually have is better than doing without anything. A little tip: Diffuse the popup, somehow. A small piece of tupperware, or in a real pinch, I actually carry some tape and tissue paper around with, and tape the tissue paper around the popup to keep the light from being quite so harsh.

I edited my first post, so it has the EXIF over the photos.
I am shot these with my Canon 70-300 kit, with a T3i.