The striped hawk-moth in flight

[MiroslavMaric]

This was the first time I noticed this species (Hyles livornica). It was in the field of lavender plant.
5D3, Sigma 180mm macro, hand holding, native light, f/6.3, 1/4000s, ISO800.
PP: NR of BG, midcontrast. Full size of frame: 3885 x 2595 pixels.
Location: Dalmatia, July 2015.

153980

Thanks for viewing and CC.

Cheers,
Miro

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Miroslav,
This looks like a great catch to me. Sharp on the head where it needs to be and the curled probiscus is quite cool. Blur in the wings gives a sense of motion. I like the placement of the subject and how the purple flowers frame the moth without intersecting it. Very well done.
Allen

[Mitch Carucci]

Wonderful. Great capture! Love the angle of approach.

[Diane Miller]

I've never seen a picture of a moth in flight before -- I thought dragonflies were spectacular but this goes to a new level -- wonderful!! Allen said it -- sharp where it needs to be, beautifully framed by the flowers, amazing catch of the proboscis.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Miro this is a winner! The eye, proboscis and the antenna are beautifully sharp - great shot congratulations.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What a fantastic image! As others point out, sharp where it needs to be. Framed perfectly by the beautiful flowers too. Had it just taken off from a flower?

[MiroslavMaric]

Thanks everyone for comments, glad you like it.



Had it just taken off from a flower?

I did above shot a fraction of second before the moth started to hover and feed. The wings span of this moth is around 3" so it is more easy to follow in flight than regular Hummingbird Hawk-moth. Despite the size it took around 250-300 shots to get this one in flight. I used AI servo mode with manual prefocus on Sigma 180mm macro lens. The moth is regularly distributed in North Africa and very rare in my area. It was my first experience. The regular flight (feeding) time is at the end of the day and during the night. I did the shot at 1 PM. It seems the moth was very hungry or the Africa's temperature sense made the trigger in the afternoon :S3:. I was very lucky with the lighting conditions too.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thank you for the excellent additional information:S3:

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Fantastic image! Very difficult subject to shoot. Congratulations!

[Ron Conlon]

Congratulations on the IOTW. An amazing photo! Somehow I missed this the first time around, so I am pleased that the IOTW posting brought it to my attention. Great work!