A Sharp Moth!

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1iCanon
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Manual mode
1/500"
F18
ISO 200
Canon 430EX: On, Fired
HH
ACR and CS5


This is a Genista Broom Moth that offered an unusual angle when it landed on a light bulb (turned off) on my moth attracting setup.

Cropped, exposure adjustment, selective color adjustment, NR on BG, SH, contrast, smart and high-pass sharpening.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Ken, very unusual species (at least, to me) and very well captured. I like the special perch with the reflection. I do find the BG a bit shadowy and could imagine this working well in a sort of high key setting.

[Jerry van Dijk]

I had a go at it and came up with this brighter version. In ACR, I added just over a stop of exposure, set the recovery to 100 to restore the detail on the white parts of the moth, added 20 fill light and used the clarity, vibrance and saturation sliders to get the color back. I added a round of USM in PS. IQ is not ideal, I think you can do much better on the original.
I tried (but failed) to selectively brighten the BG and perch for a more high key look, but found that my masking skills in PS are in clear need of improvement! Best would be to have a slave flash to lighten up the BG when your out shooting with your moth cloth. You'll probably be able to mimick the results of your lightbox setup.

[jack williamson]

Unusual to see a bugs' reflection in the image. This is a neat image and I like the square crop and the curving angle of the bulb, nice bg.

Jack

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Ken. What a cool looking moth with the chisel-shaped head and the interesting eye. I like this unusual underneath-the-wings look plus you have nice comp, lighting, and sharpness. Very nicely done!

Boy, would you have fun at one of these insect sheet setups in Costa Rica - if you have 100 moths on the sheet, you might also have 100 different species! (And some other cool insects besides.)

[Ken Childs]

Best would be to have a slave flash to lighten up the BG when your out shooting with your moth cloth. You'll probably be able to mimick the results of your lightbox setup.
Jerry, most of the time the moths are on the sheet so no special lighting is needed other than the flash. A high key look might work with this and I can see how someone would like this brighter but I prefer the darker version.


Boy, would you have fun at one of these insect sheet setups in Costa Rica - if you have 100 moths on the sheet, you might also have 100 different species! (And some other cool insects besides.)
I know someone that did this in Brazil and some of what he photographed was incredible! As far as diversity goes, 2 nights ago I had over 80 moth species on and around the sheet so I bet a sheet setup in a tropical forest would blow my mind!

If you haven't done so already, you should setup a sheet. Not only do you get some cool moths but you'd also get an unlimited supply of bugs for the light box and for your aquarium. The past few nights have seen staggering numbers of leaf/planthoppers and beetles. I did some quick math while looking at the sheet and estimated that there were more than 4,000 'hoppers and 1,000 beetles on the sheet!

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Very good sharpnes and details. I like a lot the ""light bulb perch""and the reflection.! Very nice one!