I’m thinking I could have used a smaller aperture and increased the iso to get more detail, any thoughts would be appreciated.
Nikon D7200, f/8, 1/250sec., iso 100 @105mm.
Thanks.
Linda, congratulations on the new lens. I wish you the best with it. You did a fine job capturing the details in the moth. You did have plenty of ISO to spare, so you might could have done a little more with the f-stop, but I like the smooth background behind it. The square crop works. If I have any nit, it would be that I wish the right side of the image wasn’t darker that the rest of the background, but that isn’t a major issue on the fine image.
Thanks, Shirley. At the moment I’m feeling a bit confused, when you say I had “plenty” of ISO, do you mean 100 was enough? Or I could have gone higher? And does " a little more f-stop" mean to go smaller, such as f/11? Sorry to be so lame here just trying to get my head around what it takes to get nice crisp images like so many of you at NPN do.
As to the darker side of the image, I did leave that I purpose because I liked the lines, but perhaps it is a bit of a distraction? Thanks again.
Sorry Linda. Yes, I meant you could have gone higher on the ISO, and smaller on the f-stop, like maybe f11, but to me, your image seems like it has good details in the subject. If out shooting in the same type of lighting and situation again, you might want to try a higher ISO to allow maybe f11, and see what that does for your background. I’m sorry if I confused you on the way I worded it. I should have been more clearer.
Something like the darker side of this image is certainly a personal preference, and nothing really distracting. That is your creativity, and I sure wouldn’t want to infringe on that. It was just noticeable to me, not necessarily distracting, so I mentioned it. We all have our on creative preferences in things like this. So when someone says something in a critique, that can very well be how they might feel, but that doesn’t mean you need to change your feelings on it.
A nice shot of this little guy. 
Thanks again, Shirley. I thought that might be what you were suggesting about the iso/f-stop just making sure I understood correctly. . … your thoughts were clear, seems to be my head these days!
I do agree about the background. Like many have said here on NPN it is so great to have another perspective to help give balance.
The scene has a really nice delicate feeling to it, Linda… 
My congrats on the new lens, too! I like the use of negative space here and would like to see it uncropped to see if it makes an even bolder statement. As Shirley said, the detail in the butterfly is nice and you did have the ‘room’ to stop down more and have a deeper depth of field. It would have meant a higher ISO setting to keep your shutter speed, but I think your camera would have been fine with that. Experimentation with your new lens is the fun part - getting to know its characteristics will help you get what you want out of a scene.
You could soften the line between the colors if you wanted - blur tool or a brush with the clarity dialed way down might do it.
Thanks, Kris, for your thoughts and taking the time to comment.
I’ve attached an uncropped version, along with some edits to soften the background using the clone and blur tool. This is a quick edit, but your point and @Shirley_Freeman’s is well taken. Sometimes I do need to remind myself “why am I taking the photo?” Clearly in this case it is the moth not the background. Getting a different perspective is such a great help. Thanks again.
