Moth x2

[Nancy Bell]

It has been a long time since I have posted here. Last summer's insect and wildflower photography was eclipsed by the massive forest fire in Northern Colorado. I was forced to evacuate and then spent months on house restoration. All is now well and this year's wildflowers are beautiful and the insects are back.
I photographed these two mating moths at 9,000 ft in a low, wet area surrounding a pond. This small pond area was surrounded by miles and miles of small sage brush habitat and a bit of lodgepole pine forest. I looked on line for identification but could not really determine what kind of moth this is. The closest seems to be a "Schinia", but I would be glad for a positive i.d. if anyone knows.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 100 macro f2.8, 1/1000, f7.1, exp comp -1/3, ISO 800, tripod

[Dave Johnson]

Glad to hear things are returning to normal after the fires for you, and the wildlife Nancy. I love the eye contact from the moth on this one. Light was harsh, but I think you handled it well. Nice and sharp and the background is nice too. Well done :)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Well focused and a lovely background. Although not overexposed I would consider lowering the brightness on the moths a little but - the light is quite strong. Regards the moths the male is pretty well ideal, the female is slightly out of plane but nevertheless a very pleasing image. Glad to read your environment is recovered.

[Mitch Haimov]

Excellent detail in the subjects and perch, angled comp works well, and BG is lovely. Sexual dimorphism + strategic placement of female's head makes her appear decapitated.

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you all for your comments. Concerning the harshness of the light, I should have tried to create some shade to see how that would have impacted the result. For the placement, I contorted myself every which way to find an angle that both moths would be on the same plane, but you can see they are twisted to each other and liked it that way!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Nancy. Good to see you back here! The image was nicely seen and composed with good sharpness and an attractive background. As others have noted, the bright light wasn't helping. This might have been a good instance to use a diffusion screen - assuming your subjects were cooperating. You could either hold the screen with one hand or use a Plamp (or similar) attached to your tripod leg to hold the screen. Moving your body to put shade on the moths would also work, but light passing through a diffusion screen would be a little nicer. :S3:

[nick clayton]

I love the colours and detail of these beautiful moths Nancy.

[Nancy Bell]

Steve, the diffusion screen is a really good idea...and sadly I even had one with me and never thought of it :Whoa!:.
Thank you, Nick.