Reticulated fruitworm moth (+ 1 re-edit)

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

A little brush work to bring down the whiter areas on the back -

aka Cenopis reticulatana - this wee thing is barely 1/2 an inch long and seems to be in a pale phase or is a pale variety of this moth. Found it this morning in the window and gently captured it to take its portrait. I’ve never seen one of these before, but given the size it’s easy to miss.

I placed it on an ivy leaf on my deck and set up the camera on the GorillaPod - took two shots and stacked them in Zerene. There are other poses and angles, but I liked this one the best. It was cool this morning so it sat reasonably still, but it’s gone now. On to important moth business.

Specific Feedback Requested

I was going for a more moody interpretation of a moth photo. Is it too much?

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Lumix G9
Leica 45mm f/2.8 macro
f/10 | 1/8 sec | ISO 200
GorillaPod

Lr processed for initial white and black points, texture and white balance. Also hit the green slider in the Calibration Panel so it would be more nuanced. Zerene to stack two images - PMax output, reprocessed for color adjustment in Lr and some sharpening.

@the.wire.smith

[Shirley_Freeman]

Very nice, Kris. I like the position you placed him in the image. The dark green leaf makes him stand out nicely. Nice details in the moth and the leaf.

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

Thanks Shirley - I haven’t been doing a lot of macro, but still keep my hand in. Tiny things fascinate me.

[Mark_Seaver]

Kris, the moth stands out nicely against that dark green leaf. It and the left hand half of the leaf are nicely sharp. There are parts of the moth’s back that are overexposed, suggesting that you set your white point to high. Some burning-in of the brightest tones may fix the overexposure.

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

@Mark_Seaver - I toned them down a little and reposted…the moth was super light so I might have gone too far.