One to One
Professional photographer Neil Burnell takes Claire Gillo on a tour around Berry Head quarry in Devon to discover common blue and small blue butterflies hidden in the grass
Go behind the scenes with Neil Burnell as he captures butterflies at dawn
When the suggestion of photographing butterflies first thing in the morning, close to the longest day of the year, was first mentioned, I knew that it would be an early start! After a rather shocking 3.30am wake-up call to meet macro and landscape photographer Neil Burnell on location at 4.45am, it is a wonder either of us can find the words to say good morning, let alone go hunting for insects.
I’m meeting Neil at the top of the quarry on the nature reserve at Berry Head, near Brixham in Devon. It’s not only home to many butterfly species throughout the year, but is also a hotspot for fishermen wanting to catch the first fresh fish of the day. After waiting for 10 minutes
in the dark and nodding to many fishermen heading down to the sea, Neil strolls down the lane, putting me at ease. I soon forget that it is crazy o’clock in the morning, and instead become absorbed in the microscopic world of butterflies.
We are shooting in early June, which means we are hunting for the common blue and small blue varieties. “There’s a great website called Butterfly Conservation ( butterfly-conservation. that tells you where and when to find different species of butterflies, their natural habitats and population numbers,” Neil says. “In the quarry today we will most likely find common and small blues, but who knows what other creepy crawlies are out there!”
Neil goes on to show me a rather gruesome video of
a tick he’d shot the day before in the quarry. After agreeing that ticks are pretty horrible, Neil continues to tell me about the butterflies: “The small blues are much rarer and were reintroduced to the quarry back in 2015 after numbers began to drop.”
To ensure we have some butterflies to shoot this morning, Neil had been down the night before, watching their flight patterns and making notes of where they were landing. “It’s far easier to track and spot butterflies in the evening than it is to hunt around for them in the mornings,” he says. Once a butterfly had settled for the night, Neil grabbed his makeshift clamps, snipped the piece of grass where the butterfly was resting and attached the grass to his clamp. He then positioned the clamp back to the exact spot where the butterfly had landed.
“That way I’m able to move the butterfly into some better light in the morning,” Neil explains. “Once a butterfly lands for the night it will stay there until it gets warm in the morning. Even during the summer, butterflies will stay put until as late as 8am, giving you plenty of time to capture them if you get on location for sunrise. However, when snipping bits of vegetation, consider what you’re doing. A few grass strands here and there is fine, but don’t go destroying large amounts of their natural vegetation.”
Just before the sun begins to rise, at around 5am, we take our two butterflies ready on clamps behind a small bush and place them on the ground. “The light behind this bush is the best spot in this quarry,” Neil says. “It acts like a big diffuser as the sun rises directly up over the sea and into the quarry. When I’m stood behind the bush, the warm morning light spills through the holes in the branches, creating excellent bokeh shapes in the background, which is the style I like to bring to my images. I simply open my aperture wide (around f/4.5 to start) and make sure the entire butterfly stays sharp while blurring the background and foreground.”
Neil loves to build layers into his images around the butterfly and light, by bringing in grasses and flowers on clamps and positioning them at different distances, both in front and behind the butterfly. “Again,” Neil reminds me, “if you’re chopping any vegetation to bring into your frame, be mindful that you don’t cut down excessive amounts or anything that is unnecessary.
I like to keep my butterfly images looking natural, and stick to grasses and flowers that the butterfly is found in or around. But of course, sometimes a little artistic creativity with some colourful plants can add to the image. My advice would be to do your research first and have a good look around to see what you have to work with.”
It takes Neil half an hour to create the first image he is happy with. He makes constant adjustments to the setup, tweaking the plants into different positions and making sure the butterfly is lined up to where the bokeh light circles shine through best. “With the round bokeh shapes, you can position the butterfly so it sits perfectly in a circle of light,” he says. We also talk about the butterfly facing in and out of the frame and what looks right to the eye, as well as using the space effectively.
Neil is constantly making microscopic changes to his images, but these make a big difference when you work close-up. It’s a real art form that requires patience and a lot of back and forth to finally get a great shot. “You can see why it’s impossible to
Once a butterfly lands for the night, it will stay there until it gets warm in the morning. Even during the summer, butterflies will stay put
Master butterflies with Neil Burnell
take any decent images when there’s wind!” he says. “These still conditions we have today are perfect for the job, as even a small breeze can be problematic.”
Having looked at the weather forecast all week before the shoot, with clear skies due for the entire day, we are rather surprised around 7am to see a heavy bank of sea mist rolling into the quarry, leaving our vision pretty much only a few metres around. “Usually I would pack up and go home now,” Neil jokes. “However, I feel we can still get something with this misty light. I guess the lesson is to go out in all weather – apart from very windy days!” he says. The sea mist perfectly diffuses the sunlight, creating an amazing flat light that works beautifully for the final shot of the day.
As we head back up the steep quarry path to our cars at a reasonable 8am, ready to start the day (and have a nap), Neil is still full of advice: “July and August, especially towards the end, are both great months to photograph butterflies. They’ll continue into September and right up to the end of the month if it’s a long, warm summer, so there’s plenty of time to get shooting.”