Pics of mid-flight butterflies are challenging, but doable.
1) Determine flight patterns and focus in those areas.
2) Use a focal length with a little forgiveness (200mm @f8)
3) Use a pull-focus limiter and practice at different lengths. https://www.focusshifter.com/
3a) Limit your focus pulls to a small area.
4) Learn to aim your lens without the EV or monitor. (Practice)
5) Always know where you are focused as a starting point.
6) Go!
As much as I like these in-focus pieces, I found that allowing impressions (sometimes just a “miss”) can be just as satisfying.
This has been my summer project, and it has helped me re-hone my muscle memory for manual focus. It has also created another story that happened while I was practicing. That is coming up next.
This technique works very well and I ended up with a plethora of usable pieces. Here are a few.
Photographic Impressionistic Illusionistic 