I believe I have identified this Skipper correctly, though I wouldn’t bet on it. So many of these little brown Skippers look so much alike to me. There are around 12,000 species in North America, which includes about 70 species in Oklahoma. What I do know is they are tiny and a challenge to photographers – they rarely stay in one spot for more than a few moments, and they rarely present their full profile. This one is nectaring on Asters in my yard.
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Technical Details
Canon 60D, Canon 70-300mm IS USM Zoom, f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 500, Ev -1.5 step. Processed in ACR and PSE 2020 for exposure and cropping. Topaz DeNoise.
Great detail, Terry. We have had quite a few of these in our yard also the last few weeks. I believe I miss took them for a type of moth, so thanks for the clarification.
Terry, this is a nice look at this skipper doing what he does best. I like the composition with the flower going over to the left and balancing the frame. I could see darkening or removing the brighter flower stems in the background to keep them from pulling the eye away from the subject. I like the angle you captured him. Nicely done.
Thanks, @linda_mellor. I can understand mistaking this brown, somewhat indescript butterfly for a moth. Not that you asked, but butterflies can be distinguished from moths by their antennae. The tip of a butterfly’s antennae ends in a little bulb at the end, whereas a moth’s antennae feathers out to something of a point. You can file that in your “useless info I didn’t ask for” file!
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman. I agree that bright spot is a bit distracting. I worked it over a bit to tone it down, and reposted. The adjustments I made were quick and not terribly careful so, keep in mind it needs more work, but the repost gives an idea of what can be done.
The repost is an improvement, Terry. The composition and crisp details came out very well. I noticed a while line on the upper right edge I did not see in the first post. The flower color was a good fit for this photo.
Thanks @Dean_Salman. Yes, I see those. They were there when I first processed the photo, and I removed them. But they showed back up in the repost. Magic, I guess.
The BG on the second post is much improved, but I’d go even further. The bright and detailed flower crowding the UL competes too much with the little butterfly and pulls my wandering eye out of the corner of the frame.
