HUMMINGBIRD MOTH IN FLIGHT

[quinte]

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[CoBilly]

So that's what those moths are called. I snapped a bunch of one of these with my phone one morning. Great looking shots!

 

[astroNikon]

Awesome and beautiful pictures !!

Several years ago I was wandering in my backyard which had a bunch of various flowers. To my amazement I saw this hummingbird moth and I knew it wasn't a hummingbird. It took some investigation but I found it out to be a moth. I wish I had a camera with me (before cell phone cameras) and I never saw it again. It's apparently rare in SE Michigan. I plan on making a small butterfly / hummingbird flower/plant area at my current house. Hopefully they'll show up again someday.

Thanks for the photos !!

 

[astroNikon]

What type of lens and settings did you use to capture these ? As I get more into this stuff having the info in the back of my mind will help me evaluate how to do it lol

 

[quinte]

These were shot with a Nikon D7000, Tamron 90mm macro, and a Nikon SB 910 Speedlight. I always use flash doing macro. I get more consistent results, and I can shoot much higher shutter speeds. I take a ton of macro, and with insects there is not time, at least for me, to set up tripod, remote control, etc. and expect the critters to stay still enough to shoot a slower speed and for them to wait until I have everything ready. I also have a Sigma ring flash, but the 910 is more powerful and does not cast lens shadows when using the Tamron. More light, means higher shutter speeds. Most of these shots were in the 1/800-1/1250 second range, and the f-stops probably ranged from 5.6-11 in this particular group. I throw them into Lightroom 5 and then into PS CS6 for final tweaking. I have the Nik collection of Raw Pre-sharpener, Define, Color Efex Pro4, and HDR Efex Pro 2. For macro I always use the Pre-sharpener and Define. The use of the others depend on how the photo is looking to me. I really don't see many of these, but they seem to be more of them around in our fall season in Arkansas. Thanks for the compliments.

 

[astroNikon]

I never thought of using a flash for flying insects to stop the action. Great idea.

great pictures again

 

[quinte]

I shoot everything manual on the camera and the flash.

 

[baturn]

All very nice, but that last one does it for me.

 

[WesternGuy]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing your approach to how you captured these. It is appreciated.

WesternGuy

 

[annamaria]

Nice photos. Really like the last one a lot, love the angle of that shot.