Most of the times I am outdoors when I am photographing butterflies, but occasionally I have the opportunity to visit indoor butterfly gardens. One of the cool thing about these facilities is that they often contain tropical species that are not present in my local area.
Early in June I visited Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia and spent some time in the butterfly garden in an enclosed area of the large glass conservatory. Shooting in this environment challenges my composition skills and photography techniques as I try to hold my camera steady, focus on these moving subjects, and avoid including people and man-made objects in the backgrounds of the images.
Here are a few of my favorites from my time with these butterflies, several of which perched on me while I was exploring their environment. There is a double-door system that is sort of like an air lock to try to prevent the butterflies from escaping when people enter and exit. The staff folks also carefully check you when you are leaving to ensure that no butterflies are hitching a ride on you.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
These are beautiful, Mike. We went to an indoor butterfly conservatory a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, the butterflies weren’t very active that day which made me wonder if there’s a time of day when they are more active.
Thanks, Michelle. The butterflies were pretty active when I was there, but I have no idea when they are most active during the day. In addition to the ones that I showed perched on flowers, there were also some butterflies that liked the cantaloupe and other fruit that was available in dishes.
Beautiful, all.
These are absolutely beautiful!
Thanks.