Moth

[Mitch Carucci]

There are a lot of these around right now. I am completely ignorant as to what they are, but I liked his position on the flower.

Nikon d7000 with 55mm f3.5. Image stack.

[Diane Miller]

Cute, whatever it is, and a nice pose on the flower! Looks like it was in full sun and the resulting somewhat harsh texture appears to be brought out a little too much by sharpening. Conversely the flower looks like it has been desaturated and lowered in contrast too much in comparison. I'd bet there is enough information in the RAW file to strike a more even balance.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Mitch I don't know where you live but that looks very much like a skipper species which is a butterfly. I like the colours and composition it makes for a pleasing image.
If you had not told me it was a stack I would have suggested the butterfly is a little over sharpened - maybe this is a consequence of stacking?/ I think it is a good image and I would ask if a stack was actually required - don't get me wrong we all have fun playing around with our images but I suspect one shot at f8 or f11 would have done the trick

[Mitch Carucci]

Jonathan,

Thank you for the ID. Yes, it does seem to be a skipper, and not a moth at all! I have never seen as many as we have this year. I guess they go in cycles. I am still learning about stacking, and I do tend to increase contrast too much...(I will work on that). I have tried photos of the skipper without stacking (Up to F16, and then sharpness was already dropping off), and find that I still cannot get everything within an acceptable focal plane. This skipper was slugglish as it was an early and cool morning. Even still, his antenna were moving, so I had to do some editing to remove the blur there. Stacking can be very frustrating, but I am learning that if I can control it, it will be a fun tool.

Thanks again for your comments.

M.C.

[Mitch Carucci]

Dianne,

You are right. I actually desaturated, and darkened the flower to focus attention on the butterfly (thanks to Jonathan, I now know it is not a moth at all, but a skipper which is a butterfly).
I think I went too far, and will try bringing the flower back to a more balanced tone. I find the stacking process does create a bit of harshness, and I should have reduced the contrast and run the background through a stronger noise reduction.

Thanks for your comments.

M.C.