Zebra Heliconian, florida butterfly at 552mm

The right lens is the one that gets you the shot! This was taken with the Tamron 150-600mm. I've also included dialogue about the photo, although I know most of the posters in this forum are themselves, very advanced shooters.

Question I was posed:

"Was this shot using a tripod?? so clear.. somehow i need to work on that. mine are almost never this sharp.."

My response(s), hopefully helpful:

Dave Blinder "Yep, 1/200th F/8 ISO 400, Vibration Compensation (IS), carbon fiber tripod. Sharp butterfly shots not possible near 600mm without tripod. When I shoot butterflies with my 90mm macro lens I do 75% handheld. Average time I spend photographing an individual butterfly is anywhere between 5mins and 1.5hrs. I don't leave until I verify I have the eye perfectly in focus on the LCD."

"If the butterfly's eye is not in sharp focus I do not post the photo online."

"Same technique for dragonflies. Nearly identical for birds, but if the bird is distant and I don't think I can fill 20% or more of the frame I skip the shot. My definition of a sharp eye is viewing the texture on the surface of the subject's eye nearest the camera."

Excellent shot and comp!

Beautiful shot, Dave.

Beautiful shot Dave.

Thanks Denis, Ishrani, and Lester. Cheers to another great year of macro shooting.

Lovely capture !
Brian V.