I am delighted to see that butterflies are finally appearing as we move deeper into spring, like this tiny Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) that I spotted this past Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Since I was mostly looking for birds, I had my trusty Tamron 150-600mm lens on my camera. Although this lens is not optimal for such a small subject, it did a pretty good job in capturing the delightful details of this little butterfly, like the little “tails” at the bottom of the wings and the patches of orange on the wings themselves.
The same day I also saw a larger orange butterfly that I think was a Question Mark butterfly. If my photos are clear enough, I’ll probably post them soon. Stay tuned for coming attractions.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Excellent Mike, that’s a big lens for butterflies! 🙂
When I am more into insect mode, I tend to use a 180mm macro, which lets me capture amazing detail without having to get super close. The biggest problem with my long zoom is that the minimum focusing distance is almost nine feet. Yikes!
Benjamin and I think this butterfly photo is amazing. Even though I know zero about which lens you need to use, it still sounds as though this is a fortunate capture. Lucky us! Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
Thanks. The butterfly is tiny and very beautiful. In a real sense, the lens doesn’t matter much–it’s the photo that really counts. I know that some of the folks who read my blog are wildlife photographers and many of us like to share some of the technical details of our shots. I try to strike a balance, sometimes dwelling on creative themes, sometimes on technical ones, and sometimes on descriptive narrations of what I was doing and feeling when I captured the images.
It looks like it stopped to accessorize before going out for the day. Very pretty. I’ve never seen one like this.