Greetings!

I was inspired by the recent Steemit Photochallenge of which the object was to get "the best" high speed shot. So thanks to @jamtaylor for hosting the challenge and @berniesanders for sponsoring it; there were a lot of entries and the challenge was a great success!

I didn't want to use a studio and tripod to get some high speed action shots like a water balloon exploding or any such thing. I wanted to go out into nature and see if I could capture an IN FLIGHT shot of the very illusive Yellow SwallowTail Butterfly! From the very beginning that is what I wanted to achieve, and while it took 3 days and many hours, here is the photo I submitted. 

You can read photo challenge entry here.

Needless to say this was VERY difficult. Although I did see the SwallowTail each day it took me HUNDREDS of photos and many hours, over the course of 3 days, to get a clear in flight shot! 

To make it even more difficult I am using an old DSLR with slow auto focus and only about 2 photo a second ability. So after many failures I found a spot where the butterfly seemed to show up more often and wait at a spot with my lens focused for the Majestic Beauty to enter the frame. 

This required a LOT of patience but it paid off as I got some very nice shots!
I only submitted one photo of the SwallowTail for the photo challenge, but after 3 days and many hours I did get more than one in flight and a lot of nice ones not in flight. Though even when "not in flight" the SwallowTail continuously bats its wings and only stops for brief seconds before bobbing up and down and away at amazingly quick speeds. 

Here are a few of the MANY photos I got where even the quick speed of the shutter and me being prepared, I would still miss the focus by fractions or have to much movement in the camera trying to get the Majestic Beauty in frame. 

Little by little I got better and also learned more about how this Butterfly moved and acted. I never saw it still for even a half a second. It was either flying or flapping its wings while hovering on a flower for a brief second before very quickly bobbing off, up and down again. 

Now I will showcase a few of the other in flight photos that I got which were pretty nice but I did NOT submit in the Challenge. 

Getting a little bit better!

Now here are some of my favorite ones!

This one is a great action shot of the hover effect coming in from the air as the butterfly quickly bats its wings just above the flower. 

So I was very excited after all the effort to get these few nice in flight shots!

Here are some of my favorite shots where the butterfly is actually on a flower, though even then the wings don't stop!

I really like the angle of all the flowers and butterfly in this one~

As my final photo to share, because of the lighting, this was one of my favorite photos!

After days and many hours I have this to show for it! I had a great time and am happy with the photos I got and what I learned. Patience and dedication are valuable skills that pay off! 

I hope you enjoyed these photos. Your feedback is most welcome. 

∞§∞Blessings∞§∞