Working with depth of field

This is one of the largest butterflies in the world -- an Ornithoptera priamus -- with a wing span from 5 to 8 inches. It classified in the group of birdwing butterflies. I photographed it in Papua New Guinea with a 70-200mm telephoto along with one extension tube for close focusing. Extension tubes are very light, inexpensive, and they take up little room in a photo backpack. They are very useful because they convert any lens into a close focusing or macro lens. Because magnification causes a loss in depth of field, I made sure the back of the camera (i.e. the plane of the digital sensor) was as parallel as possible with the plane of the folded wings of the butterfly. This allowed me to maintain focus across the entire insect. My settings were 1/250, f/11, and 1250 ISO.