Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Hummingbird Moth on Butterfly Bush Flower

  1. #1
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Maryland's Eastern Shore, beside Fairlee Creek near the Chesapeake Bay
    Posts
    1,961
    Threads
    344
    Thank You Posts

    Default Hummingbird Moth on Butterfly Bush Flower

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Nikon D300 w/Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 vrII micro lens, hand held
    Nikon R1 twin strobe system, w/D300 as Commander
    ISO equivalent 640
    1/320 sec @ f/22

    Anxious to try out a new Nikon wireless R1 twin flash system on my camera, I set up shop by a huge patch of butterfly bushes by my home, which daily attracts dozens of swallowtail butterflies, monarchs, hummingbird moths and numerous other flying critters. What you see is a visitor to a flower about a foot from my lens.

    Beyond normal PS CS5 adjustments, I also cloned out some distractions above the moth, applied Topaz DeNoise 4, and added a bit of canvass above the upper leaf. It's a pity, but I didn't quite catch all of the bottom of the flower!

    I know that some prefer some wing blur. But I like the way that the strobes froze the wings, to reveal the beautiful wing architecture.

    Please tell me, what do you think? How could I have done better?

    Norm
    Last edited by Norm Dulak; 08-16-2010 at 12:36 PM.

  2. #2
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    23,119
    Threads
    1,523
    Thank You Posts
    Blog Entries
    55

    Default

    Norm, Looks great. It looks like you added some canvas to the top. I might go ahead and add some to the bottom and finish off the tip of the flower (should be fairly easy) I like the frozen wings and the details. I might spend a little bit of time cleaning up a bit more of the BG some of the artifacts are showing through. I think this is a very nice image and you did a great job!

  3. #3
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Maryland's Eastern Shore, beside Fairlee Creek near the Chesapeake Bay
    Posts
    1,961
    Threads
    344
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Quote Originally Posted by denise ippolito View Post
    Norm, Looks great. It looks like you added some canvas to the top. I might go ahead and add some to the bottom and finish off the tip of the flower (should be fairly easy) I like the frozen wings and the details. I might spend a little bit of time cleaning up a bit more of the BG some of the artifacts are showing through. I think this is a very nice image and you did a great job!
    Thanks Denise!

    In fact I have experimented with a repair of the bottom of the flower and the addition of more canvass, with the result shown in this re-post.:D

    Norm

  4. #4
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    23,119
    Threads
    1,523
    Thank You Posts
    Blog Entries
    55

    Default

    Norm, You did a great job with the re-growth!!:)

  5. #5
    Roman Kurywczak
    Guest

    Default

    Hey Norm,
    Great comp advice given above by Denise. To me....the flash is a bit strong so I want to offer some possible solutions for you to keep in mind for the future......try getting as much ambient light in as you can.......this will help balance the light a bit more and keep that look down. You will have fun with those twin lights.....just remember to try and keep the ambient balance.

  6. #6
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Maryland's Eastern Shore, beside Fairlee Creek near the Chesapeake Bay
    Posts
    1,961
    Threads
    344
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Roman Kurywczak View Post
    Hey Norm,
    Great comp advice given above by Denise. To me....the flash is a bit strong so I want to offer some possible solutions for you to keep in mind for the future......try getting as much ambient light in as you can.......this will help balance the light a bit more and keep that look down. You will have fun with those twin lights.....just remember to try and keep the ambient balance.
    Thanks for the advice, Roman. That's something I hadn't thought of, since I was intent on freezing those amazing wings. And the area was enveloped in shade when I captured the image. But the +0.7 comp I set on the strobes will be dialed down next time, to get a better balance with the ambient light.

    As with all good new toys, there is always much to learn!

    Norm

  7. #7
    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Cheshire UK
    Posts
    17,015
    Threads
    2,604
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    I think you have a great image there, I like the repair job too. I would like to see this sort of image with a natural background, I don't know how easy or difficult this would be, they are day flying moths so to me it makes for a more natural image:)

  8. #8
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Maryland's Eastern Shore, beside Fairlee Creek near the Chesapeake Bay
    Posts
    1,961
    Threads
    344
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan Ashton View Post
    I think you have a great image there, I like the repair job too. I would like to see this sort of image with a natural background, I don't know how easy or difficult this would be, they are day flying moths so to me it makes for a more natural image:)
    Jonathan:

    Thanks for your comments! But regarding the natural background, that could be done by reducing the power of the strobes, and letting ambient light make a bigger contribution as Roman has suggested. But the background here is extremely busy in the thick butterfly bush patch, with branches and leaves everywhere. So you have to pick your poison; busy (and arguably distracting) background with lower strobe power, or black (unnatural) background with stronger flash output.:)

    Norm

  9. #9
    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Bemidji, Minnesota
    Posts
    5,801
    Threads
    818
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Hi Norm. Some good advice already given above. I like the way you were able to stop this moth in flight and the comp in your repost is a big improvement. My suggestion would be to remove some of the background elements that vaguely appear out of the black - especially around the moth where the greens look like smudges that I feel really detract from your otherwise very nice image. :)

  10. #10
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Maryland's Eastern Shore, beside Fairlee Creek near the Chesapeake Bay
    Posts
    1,961
    Threads
    344
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Maxson View Post
    Hi Norm. Some good advice already given above. I like the way you were able to stop this moth in flight and the comp in your repost is a big improvement. My suggestion would be to remove some of the background elements that vaguely appear out of the black - especially around the moth where the greens look like smudges that I feel really detract from your otherwise very nice image. :)
    Steve:

    That's good advice. And after Denise suggested the same, I cleaned up the bkg of the underlying Photoshop file. I probably won't re-post again here though.

    But thanks to everyone for your comments!:)

    Norm

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Web Analytics