ABSTRACT
While butterflies and dragonflies can be quite challenging to successfully photograph, they are at the same time interesting and fun. Both can make stunning images, and both are easy to find in their favored habitat during the warmer months. Insect species have distinctive life cycles. One difficulty making butterflies challenging photographic targets is that they are most active when ambient temperatures are warmer than 60 degrees Fahrenheit (F). When temperatures are warm, many are wary, elusive, skittish, and hard to approach. Another downside to their favored flight times of mid-day hours is that the bright sun creates harsh shadows and hard-to-tame contrast. Some butterflies such as the Green Comma that overwinter as adults in brush piles begin to appear in Michigan during March, and some are still flying on chilly October days. Yet most species have more limited flight tenures of around a month, while still others fly a mere couple of weeks.
