Hummingbird moth? and butterfly for cc

[hopdaddy]

Any of your thoughts would be appreciated ,comp,lighting,..all aspects of the photos.....basicly what would you have done different? ,to have made a better photograph?Camera:Nikon D90Exposure:0.004 sec (1/250)Aperture:f/4.8Focal Length:105 mmISO Speed:400Exposure Bias:0 EVFlash:No Flash

Camera:Nikon D90Exposure:0.004 sec (1/250)Aperture:f/2.8Focal Length:105 mmISO Speed:200Exposure Bias:0 EVFlash:No Flash

 

[NateS]

Looks like a pipevine swallowtail and yes...hummingbird moth. You are going to need a much faster shutter speed or a flash to get sharp images of these two. A tripod might help with the swallowtail, but won't help much with the Hum Moth as they are in constant motion so you need to freeze the action with a flash or with a really fast shutter speed.

 

[MrBarney]

Nice framing and composition.

Both seem to suffer from too little depth of field. It would be nice to have the upper wing on the butterfly in focus too. You could have sacrificed some shutter speed for that (1/125th should have been ok).

In the second shot, focus has caught little more than 50% of the hummingbird, and not much of the flower. As there's lots of fast movement here, a bump in ISO would have given you another stop down on the aperture (f/4). It might not have been enough, but it would have helped.

Still, pretty good! :thumbup:

 

[hopdaddy]

Thanks for the help guys,
Nate,I haven't purchased a flash yet,and as a general rule don't use the pop-up flash......should I start,or just tackle that after the flash is bought?

Mr.Barney thanks for the input,it is appreciated much

PS. this is a new lens for me,105mm sig......still learning

 

[vtf]

I've taken shots of hummingbird moths, I prefer the motion of the wings as you have captured. Maybe alittle more dof I think, but not much more. Good capture.:thumbup:

 

[hopdaddy]

I've taken shots of hummingbird moths, I prefer the motion of the wings as you have captured. Maybe alittle more dof I think, but not much more. Good capture.:thumbup:

Thanks VTF,
do you ever use flash as Nate advised?I've heard this before,but understand little of the intricate parts ...in other words,just add the flash?or is there a good,better,best setting to stop motion?

I assume add flash with the highest possible ss

 

[vtf]

I've taken shots of hummingbird moths, I prefer the motion of the wings as you have captured. Maybe alittle more dof I think, but not much more. Good capture.:thumbup:

Thanks VTF,
do you ever use flash as Nate advised?I've heard this before,but understand little of the intricate parts ...in other words,just add the flash?or is there a good,better,best setting to stop motion?

I assume add flash with the highest possible ss

I have used the onboard flash but generally prefer the motion to the wings. Mine were done in the morning hours and I went with natural lighting and higher shutter.

I prefer the motion tho.

 

[hopdaddy]

Hmmm,your exif data is not available on thesecare to share how high you ss was?..........or in general for stopping the wing motion,how fast will a shutter speed need to be?

thanks for the help

 

[vtf]

Hmmm,your exif data is not available on thesecare to share how high you ss was?..........or in general for stopping the wing motion,how fast will a shutter speed need to be?

thanks for the help

F5, shutter 1/3200, iso @1600 on all, I was lucky on the one to stop it in motion but if you use flash it will help, I just havent done it myself yet.
These were taken when I was really new to my camera, today iso would not be so high, made some noise.

 

[shmne]

You mean a hummingbird moth is a real thing I seriously thought that was a typo. Sorry for the completely off topic post, but that is how astounded I am.

 

[vtf]

There are only three species that move their wings so fast. One is the hummingbird moth, one is a bat and then the hummingbird.

 

[shmne]

Wow. I feel like I need to take another course on animals and insects because I have a lot to learn.

 

[hopdaddy]

You mean a hummingbird moth is a real thing I seriously thought that was a typo. Sorry for the completely off topic post, but that is how astounded I am.

Hehe..It's just when ever someone here sees a post by me,they automatically expect misspelled words and type-oooes lol:lmao:

:lmao::lmao: I'm not tadred.....Just a little slow..:lmao::lmao:

now back on subject,Shmne,do you stop motion with flash?If so what settings...someone help an old dumb-arse out! :er:

 

[shmne]

I think even on camera flash would help a bit.

Basically you want your shutter speed or flash duration to be about 1/1500. If it is a bright and sunny day then you can just use your shutter speed. If it is a darker day, then what you can do is bring in your flash (preferably off camera like a vivitar 285hv). All you have right now though is the one attached to your camera, this should be more than enough to capture the motion though as most flash durations of the built in variety are capable of just about peaking at 1/1000 or 1/1500.

Essentially set your shutter speed to the proper sync speed (1/200th for canon, 1/250 for nikon is generally accepted), then use the flash (this is basically your new shutter speed) to light the scene.

When all is said and done you should be able to stop the motion of the bird, but keep some minor blur in the wings for movement sake.

Hope this wasn't too confusing!

 

[NateS]

Flash will not stop the motion in the wings on all of these. Not a hummingbird moth, but Clearwing (which is the same familY) and wings moving just as fast....these were with flash. I got the stop motion to get the Moth in focus, but still have the blurred wings.

I completely agree that you want to have some motion blur in the wings....but that doesn't mean you can't use a flash...remember, you want motion blur in the wings, not the entire moth.

Pop up flash isn't bad and do some google searches on DIY diffusers for the popup flash. I've seen some impressive stuff with a popup and crazy homemade diffuser.

Oh, and what shmne said....that's basically how I shot these. 1/200th (my max flash sync) f/11-f/13 and used the flash to freeze him....his wings were fast enough to be blurred regardless of the flash being used.