Moth in mid air

I shot this photo of a moth at 1/1000 of a second, f/11 and iso 200.

1 Like

Wow, quite an amazing image! The important parts of the moth are sharp -
proboscis , abdomen, antennae.
I don’t know what camera you’re using, but a higher ISO and SS here would have helped freeze the motion . Any time I anticipate action (flying birds, running animals, etc) I set both SS and ISO fairly high and deal with any noise later.
To add interest, it might be an idea (if you can) to move the moth off-center to the left, and include more of the flower.
That’s the ideal, anyway - I’d sure be happy to have this image, as is, in my files at all! Excellent catch!

Sandy R-B

This is very nice. Moth looks sharp, and the flower and background are both really pleasing. Looks like you have some hot whites, but otherwise, quite a shot.

Very nice - I think 400 ISO (and 1/2000s) wouldn’t have hurt your shot, but I don’t mind a bit of movement in the wings either. Love the BG!
Grt, Ingrid.

Harrison: Great flight shot with everything that matters sharp. I’m going to move this to Macro since Avian is technically for birds only. Keep 'em coming.>=))>

Very cool, Harrison. An unusual image, and I like it a lot. I don’t mind the blurred wings, but as Sandy noted, you probably could have stopped them. Almost any camera from the last couple of generations will give you acceptable images at iso 1000 or even higher. The noise reduction software these days is amazing, especially when you get the exposure correct in-camera.

I agree with Sandy’s comments. Great image that can experience minor adjustments that will give great results.

I would love to make an image like this. Its not easy to freeze at this position., Hats off. You have a cracker of a background.
Balan Vinod

A fine catch on the moth feeding, Harrison. As others have said, you did great getting the head, body and proboscis sharp. The blurred wings are “photographer’s choice”, but it’s also likely that you didn’t have enough depth-of-field to get them sharp with a faster shutter.

I have tried to capture shots like this on similar species and do not have anything this nice. A fine capture of a very tough subject. I agree with increasing IS0 and shutter speed to help freeze the body even more. I like the blurred look of the wings and kind of doubt you could have fully frozen them altogether even with a faster shutter. Well done.