WHAT?
BUTTERFLIES ARE SUCH beautiful creatures that many hobby photographers have, at one time or other, tried to shoot them with their camera.
 A butterfly drinking nectar from a sun-bathed flower is truly a pretty sight. We do our utmost to record this scene on film ... only to find our subject uncooperative and elusive.
 If at all we manage to get a shot, the butterfly would appear small in the photograph either because we had not used the right equipment or had not been able to get close enough to the subject.
 Butterflies are rather shy and ready to take flight at the slightest sign of intrusion into their world. They would most likely have taken off before we could get close enough and get them into focus in the viewfinder.
  However, it's not impossible to take close-up pictures of these lively creatures. With the right approach, you may find it quite easy to capture these delicate gifts of nature on film.

HOW?
We deal with the question of equipment first. In my view, the best type of camera for photographing butterflies is a 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) camera as it is quite compact and handy, and it tackles the job well. Even moderately priced SLRs are capable of very good results.
 Macro lenses are specially designed for close-up photography. If you can afford it, use a 100mm macro lens as it is most suitable for photographing butterflies (and other live insects).
 A 50mm macro lens would be cheaper but its focusing distance, i.e. the working distance between the subject and camera, is too close to be comfortable for butterflies and other insects.
 Several camera manufacturers now make 90mm, or 100mm, or 105mm macro lenses which focus down to life size without the addition of an extender. (Previously, such lenses normally focus down to half life-size and can achieve 1:1 or life-size magnification only with an extender, or doubler.)
 I do not own a true 100mm macro lens. But what I have amounts to a 100mm macro lens capable of 1:1 reproduction (and a telephoto lens to boot). All these years, I have been using a 50mm standard lens coupled to a 2X macro-focusing teleconverter. This is a cheaper alternative to a true 100mm macro.
 If you are not interested in going down to life size, you may want to consider a zoom lens. Most zoom lenses nowadays give you 1:4 or 1:3 or even 1:2 magnification in macro mode. This is good enough for "catching" the larger butterflies.
 Many autofocus compact cameras with zoom lense are also capable of such magnifications in macro mode. Although I have not used one of these, I believe they are also quite up to the task.
 Some photographers use a 135mm telephoto lens mounted on an extension tube (a hollow tube with the necessary linkages between lens and camera) and this gives a magnification of approximately 1.25 or 1:3.
 Next a question on lighting... to flash or not to flash? Since most butterflies fly in the day, you can photograph them without using an eletronic flash unit. In fact, this is preferred as you would have pictures showing natural lighting.
 However, you need a wide aperture when photographing under available light, especially with a macro lens. A wide aperture means limited depth of field. The result is that your subject (the butterfly) appears to be only partly in focus.
 If you want to "stop down" to a smaller aperture you then have to use a flash. Again there is a trade-off. In close-up pictures taken with a flash, the background shows up as black even though the main subject is correctly exposed. The pictures appear to have been taken at night rather than in broad daylight.
 With practice, you get the knack of balancing sunlight and light from the flash for more even lighting. Another way to avoid getting a dark background is to choose a viewing angle which has a nearby bush, tree trunk or rock as backdrop.
 The lighting under the forest canopy is usually poor, making hand-held photography almost impossible. So, most of the time I have a flash unit mounted on my camera whenever I go into the forest in search of butterflies and other nature subjects.
 A flash unit with a Guide Number of around 20 is about right. Out in the open, in bright sunlight, pictures taken with the flash have nicely lit backgrounds. Yet, it is powerful enough for picture-taking in the dimness of the forest understorey.
 Your equipment should be light. You do not want to be weighed down when you go after butterflies. Whatever the equipment you have chosen, get the knack of using it so that you are always ready whenever a picture opportunity comes by.
 Stick to one type of film ... unless or until you have acquired enough experience to use different types of film.
 Keep on using one type of film so that - through familiarity with that type of film and your equipment - you know the camera settings you need to make for various lighting conditions and subject-to-camera distances to get the correct exposure.

WHEN?
In this tropical country, butterflies can be seen all year round. Even during the rainy seasons, some of them are on the wing during the clear part of the day either before or after rain has fallen.
 Most species of butterflies are active from late morning until mid-afternoon on dry days. A few species still fly in the late afternoon, for example, the Rajah Brooke's Birdwing (Trogonoptera brookiana) may be seen near forest streams as late as 5 or 6pm.

 In my experience, the best time to photograph butterflies is morning when they are looking for food.* It appears to me that when they have found food, they are so intent on satisfying their hunger that they do not mind the presence of a human being close by.
 They become very active by noon, spurred on by the heat of the sun, and by late afternoon they are ready to retire to the shade of the forest or bushes.

WHERE?
On sunny days, butterflies can be seen in gardens, along roadsides or village paths, in clearings near forests, on the banks of rivers and streams or waterfalls.
 You may try your hand at photographing butterflies right in your own garden. The more common species can be seen feeding at flowers and some may even breed in your garden if you happen to be growing their food plants.**
 After you have photographed the more common butterflies found in your neighbourhood, you may want to venture further afield in search of more exotic species for your growing picture portfolio.
 Go into the forest. There you can combine several activities with your new pursuit. Take a walk. Commune with Mother Nature, and soothe your work-worn spirit. And all the while you can indulge in your new pastime of butterfly photography.
 There is a certain thrill or sense of adventure when you explore the forest, its streams and waterfalls in search of butterflies to photograph. There is a sense of discovery when you encounter a species that you have never seen before. (Well, who knows? One day you may even find a species new to science.)
 I guess this is the main difference between photographing butterflies in a butterfly park and "hunting" them in the wild. Someone I know put it this way: "The thrill is simply not there, lah!"
 Nevertheless, you can get good pictures in a butterfly park. There are hundreds of species, some imported, held captive in an enclosed area for you to photograph. They feed at the brightly coloured flowers specially cultivated to provide nectar. All this makes for very colourful pictures indeed. It's the easy (and comfortable) way for those who do not have the time nor inclination to explore the jungle.

WHY?
Why photograph butterflies when you can collect them?
 There are more than one thousand butterfly species found in this country. It will take considerable effort and expense to establish and maintain a collection large enough to have any practical value.
 The study of butterflies, especially the taxonomic aspect, requires the systematic and comprehensive collection of large numbers of specimens, and this is an undertaking best left to the serious student or scientist.
 From the moment a butterfly is caught, great care must be taken to ensure that it is not damaged (and collectors are known to discard specimens that have even the slightest "flaw"). The dead specimen has then to be properly set and mounted.
 Special cabinets have to be made at great costs to house the collection. The drawers must be treated regularly with chemicals to prevent attacks by ants and other insect pests, or fungus.
 With photography we avoid all this hassle. We can capture the beauty of butterflies to be admired time and time again without resorting to killing and destruction.
 By taking some care we can preserve our pictures, be they colour prints or slides, to be shown again and again... a photographic heritage for all generations, if you like.
 What the collector accomplishes with net and chloroform, we can achieve with camera and film, and in a much more pleasant way, too.
 Photography is increasingly being used to record images and gather data for research. It is perhas the only tool that enables us to learn about our world with minimum destruction to the environment and our natural heritage.

  (This article was published in the Malayan Naturalist, Vol 44 Nos. 2 & 3, December 1990/March 1991 combined issue.)
  * Butterflies take in only liquids which they suck through their long proboscis. Their food may be the nectar of flowers, juices of fruits, and sap oozing out from "wounded" trees.
  ** Butterfly caterpillars feed on specific host plants, and some of these may be plants growing in gardens. For example, the caterpillars of the Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus malayanus) feed on many types of Citrus or lime trees.