Learning to Like Insects Photo Gallery by Helen Betts at pbase.com

Learning to Like Insects

I’m not really an insect person and in fact am terrified of things like spiders (even pictures of them make me nervous ;-)), but I’ve discovered that there’s some beauty in the insect world, particularly with butterflies, dragonflies and moths. I decided to put such pictures in a separate gallery since my collection of them is growing surprisingly large and no longer really fits in the worldwide wildlife gallery.

NOTE: Newer pictures are posted at the beginning of the gallery.

The dreaded spotted lanternfly has invaded DC	The last monarch	Skippers, too	Yet another butterfly!
Another butterfly at the monastery	Monastery butterfly	Finally!	Scary kitchen invader
Interesting visitor	Surprise visitor	Dragonflies on the lake	Peekaboo, I see you!
Bee mimic enjoying an azalea	Unusual visitor	The reverse side…	Lincoln Park butterfly
Safe, for now	The last skipper	Head-on	Bee and lantana
Sharing	Dragonfly on lotus bud	Monarch at work	Mystery visitor
Enjoying the lantana	Bee at the monastery	Thank goodness for skippers	Arboretum dragonfly
Another busy skipper	Face to face	Busy bee	Taking a break
Bee busy with the azaleas	They’re back	Bee at work	Exploring
Surprise	A change of pace	Busy skipper	Rock climber
Last of the ragged swallowtails	King of the leaf	Last bee at the monastery	‘Stained glass’ wing
At work on the lantana	Bonanza	Ragged	Busy bee
Graceful butterfly	Lucky find	‘We have lift-off’	Butterflies at last
Head-on	Mosaic	Hitching a ride	Gotcha
Curlicue skipper	A bit worse for wear	Mellow yellow	One-legged grasshopper
‘Do you mind? I’m busy!’	The face-off	Land of plenty	The mini-dragonfly
Lone skipper	A bee with good taste	The one and only monastery butterfly	The ‘soldier’ skipper
Bee enjoying the lantana	The lone skipper	Butterfly substitute	Left behind
Tentatively exploring a new world	Here’s lookin’ at you	Precursor	A bee that likes color
The acrobatic bee	Finally, a bee!	Showing off	The lone bee
Butterfly haven	Difficult subject	Lit up monarch	Room enough for two
Rest stop	Lantana-loving butterfly	Looking up	Return of the insects
Revelation	Supreme Court Bee	Contemplating a treat	Sharing
Last of the skippers	Pretty in pink	Skipper in white	Skipper in a yellow flower
Summer monarch	Basking in the sun	'Stained-glass' monarch	Sharing
Vividly colored	Exception to the rule	Armature	Jauntily posed
A grasshopper moment	Two for the price of one	The flashy dragonfly	Nice to see one
Another cute skipper	Encounter	Up close and personal	'I believe I was here first'
Brilliant yellow	Brilliantly green butterfly	Taking a break	Face to face
Butterfly and purple flowers	Busy butterfly	Rose tinged	Skipper haven
Popular flower	Twosome	Visitor	Translucent
Another Franciscan butterfly	Worse for wear	The color-loving butterfly	Monastic butterfly
Armor-plated	Last butterfly	Face off	Caught in the act
Yet another beautiful butterfly	Rear view	Sunlit butterfly	Seeing things eye to eye
Butterfly and flower	The prettiest dragonfly	Distinctive	Flourishing despite it all
Another injured butterfly	Broken wing	Two of a kind	Colorful monarch, colorful flower
Finally resting	Beware! (USA)	Rear view of a Cicada Killer	Too close for comfort: Eastern Cicada Killer (wasp)
Bigger than you might expect	That face	The poser	A different take
Here's looking at you!	Showy dragonfly	My first ever butterfly!	At the tip of the bud
Monarch at work	A bit ragged at the edges	Bee enjoying a blossom	Golden dragonfly revisted
Busy bee	Golden dragonfly	Taking a break	The Butterfly Pavilion (1)
The Butterfly Pavilion (2)	The Butterfly Pavilion (3)	The Butterfly Pavilion (5)	Little monster

frank_1112		02-Sep-2025 20:47
beautiful

Pierre		28-Jul-2024 11:20
Une très belle galerie de ces insectes variés, de formidables photos de chacun d'eux! V

Dan Opdal		10-May-2024 21:56
Wonderful Collection! V

Jeff Real		07-Oct-2021 14:25
You have built a gallery of immense beauty and inspiration! I cannot get enough of this! V

Regine L.		12-Sep-2021 18:36
A unique gallery. V

Sue Anne Rush		22-May-2021 23:13
Excellent. v

Unrepentant snapshooter!		22-May-2021 22:54
Gorgeous gallery!

Philip P		29-Oct-2020 15:04
Great gallery, and beautiful photography.

Raymond Ma		04-Oct-2020 02:09
Your macro work is excellent. What a lovely set of images here. V

John Hamers		28-Sep-2020 20:33
Great collection with beautiful and collorful butterfly images. A great job Helen !!V

Hennie & Lies Lammers		23-Sep-2020 19:24
Great collection of beautiful butterflies , insects and damselflies images. a pleasure to view !

Rob Oele		02-Mar-2020 16:02
Superb work; compliments because beside the excellent pics it must ave taken a lot aof patience to shoot these utrasharp insects. VV

William Hartshorn		02-Mar-2020 03:19
Amazing Captures Helen❣️ ~GMV~

Don		01-Mar-2020 20:08
Butterflies and dragonflies, a great place to start liking insects! Excellent macros, well-composed, lit and focussed.

danad		01-Mar-2020 17:17
A gallery full of interesting captures, colorful and sharp ! V.

Nestor Derkach		06-Feb-2020 16:04
Nice start to this fine gallery of Butterflies you have done a great job photographing this Ballet dancers of the insect world. A good feeling when you get them in a perfect pose it can be time consuming getting a great Butterfly collection . Vote

victorswan		21-Sep-2019 21:47
it is really becoming a great gallery with many beautiful pictures of this beautiful world, lovely work Helen BV

Marisa Livet		20-Sep-2019 19:11
But you are really doing well, in spite of your disliking for some of them! The photos in this gallery are all interesting and technically very well taken

Zoltán Balogh		16-Sep-2019 09:24
Marvellous new gallery, Helen! V

click on thumbnails for full image