Polyphemus Moth ++ Repost

Gallery: WildlifePosted June 13, 201184 views7 comments

Photo taken 2 days ago as almost always on our garage wall. I've smoothed the background to remove distracting non- subject matter.
Your comments for or against this treatment are certainly welcome. I've had more that one person here tell me the background untouched is preferred. Your comments are genuinely appreciated.

The Polyphemus moth is one of the largest we see. my guide states wingspan as 3 1/2" - 5 1/2" and I'd guess this one about in the middle of that span.

Habitat is deciduous forests. My guide also states their range as East of the Rocky mountains, but we see them here in Oregon every year.

Olympus E-5
50mm F2 macro
tripod
1/5 sec @ F22
-0.7 EV
flash off
high key
ISO 200
manual focus

Large view provided

Thanks much for the great feedback gotten from the NPN people.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on June 13, 2011 at 9:44 PM

That's a fantastic moth. I love the details in the antennae. Your background smoothing works very well except for the area right around the moth. I find the change in texture there disturbing.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on June 15, 2011 at 12:44 AM

Wow! That's one extremely unusual looking moth! I love the leafy design of those antennae, the textures you captured so well in it's wings, as well as the Tarantula look of it's body and legs, this is one Super Cool Moth, thanks for sharing Charlie :^)

I echo Mark's sentiments regarding the result of your work around edges of the subject.

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on June 15, 2011 at 7:28 AM

Great detail/DOF and color Charlie, well exposed too.
Had my first encounter with a newly emerged Polyphemus moth last year, this guy is huge..I especially like the view of the antennae here. I'm on the fence with regard to the BG

Well done!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on June 15, 2011 at 7:59 AM

HI Charlie,

I'm in agreement with the others that this is an impressive moth and that you've done a good job in capturing it - detail is good and nice control of exposure. Like the others, I'm fine with the smoothing of the background, but do think the boundary of smoothed/unsmoothed region around the moth attracts attention to the process and it largely negates the positive of the smoothing. Overall I can't really judge the success of the smoothing without also seeing unsmoothed version.

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on June 15, 2011 at 12:04 PM

What an amazing and large looking moth, looks like it almost has fur. I also go back and forth on the smooth treatment. From what I see of the texture that is left around the moth leaving it alone may actually add to the image. Nice job in getting this shot.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on June 15, 2011 at 1:56 PM

Jim H and others. This is the original image before BG smoothing. So as to best judge, you all need to know what it looked like. Thanks all for comments. And Jim I think of the hair on this and other moths as "fur".

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on June 15, 2011 at 2:35 PM

Did a little work cloning just the siding joints and like this better. I knocked this out quick and will look at it more carefully later. What do you think?

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments