--With butterflies, be patient and enjoy looking at the flowers while you wait for that right moment to come but be sure to have your camera ready to go.

--Start your own butterfly garden.  It's convenient, away from crowds and, I believe, butterflies feel at ease with your presence after a short time when they know you mean no harm thus allowing you to stand just inches away from them.

--Use macro (with macro mode you can focus in clearly with your lense just inches away from your subject) and optical zoom (don't confuse this with digital zoom - in my opinion, digital zoom produces a poor quality picture).  Both features allow you to close in on your subject sharply and will blur the background, eliminating distractions, thus drawing one's attention to the flower's or butterfly's eye-catching designs and colors.

--You can use a tripod (more with flowers than butterflies) but I prefer not to so I can move about freely.

--Move about freely and catch interesting angles with both flowers and butterflies.  Shoot from the front, sides and back of your subject.  Shoot at eye level or try an upward shot.  Catch the butterflies in different poses.  Shoot when they are in flight or flapping their wings.  Experiment.  If your camera offers manual controls, use a slow shutter speed to blur the movement and a fast shutter speed to freeze it.  If you can't adjust your shutter speed, the more light in your picture the faster your speed will be.

--If the opportunity allows, look at your subject and background closely through the view finder before clicking.  Sometimes just moving your lense a tad bit will make a big difference in how your picture turns out.

--Flashes can have a benefit or two, but I don't use one.  I feel nature's light is best.

--When you spot a butterfly in the distance, I suggest taking a picture where you are, step a little closer (slowly and quietly), take another picture and so on until you get that perfect close-up or the butterfly flies away.

--Practice makes perfect.  Take a lot of pictures.