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Viper's Bugloss & Friend

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted July 22, 2011879 views13 comments

I've always thought Viper's Bugloss is such an interesting name for a plant. In this shot a Hummingbird Hawk Moth is approaching to get some nectar from one of the flowers. These little moths are a pleasure to watch and photograph.

Nikon D300; 300mm; f 6.3@ 1/800th; ISO 500; approx.50% crop; HH.
The background is some very dry grass.

All comments and suggestions most welcome. Thanks for looking!

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on July 22, 2011 at 4:57 PM

Great stopping of the action! Good detail and colors. My only concern is to me the BG seems too light, the wings of the moth seem to get lost in it. Maybe you could darken the BG a bit to see if improves the photo. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Roger Leekam on July 22, 2011 at 7:53 PM

Great capture! I've only seen a Hummer Moth once & am dreaming about shooting one some day. Excellent detail, but I find the background a bit bright. Could be selectively toned down if you wish.

Registered on May 28, 2009, 83 Posts, 646 Comments

Comment posted by William Brozy on July 22, 2011 at 8:52 PM

Excellent capture, superb work!

Registered on November 9, 2003, 559 Posts, 2929 Comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on July 23, 2011 at 4:15 AM

Great shot- Always a pretty tough task to catch a hummingbird moth in flight and you've done an excellent job on this one- I agree about lowering a bit the brightness of the background- Very well done, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Balan Vinod on July 23, 2011 at 11:15 AM

Fantastic action here ..and detail too ....well done Tom ...the space on the right compared to the left seems a bit tight ..

Balan Vinod

Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on July 24, 2011 at 9:41 PM

Tom:
Congrat on this very beautiful image. I have seen these a few times in the local gardens but have not been able to get a good capture so far. The combination of the flowers, bg and yellow (I am glad you explained about the dried grass) bg just gel together beautifully.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 26, 2011 at 7:22 AM

The moth's sharp where it counts and both subjects stand out very well with this light BG.
Love that flower and the details you've shown us, it really helps the hummingbird moth shine here Tom.
Well done!

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

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 27, 2011 at 7:29 PM

Congrats on the WP!
Very fine image!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Carl Battreall on August 1, 2011 at 10:47 AM

A very nice image, the background color is unique and really compliments the moth and flowers. I assume the grass is in the sun, I like it bright.

Carl

Registered on August 29, 2007, 24 Posts, 222 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Schwarz on August 3, 2011 at 2:43 PM

Beautiful capture. I really like the way you have isolated the flower and moth from the background. It looks to me like it is a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. We are loaded with them around here this year.

Registered on November 29, 2006, 236 Posts, 1210 Comments

Comment posted by Tom Lusk on August 3, 2011 at 4:02 PM

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! I'll be using most of them.

Paul: I believe you are correct with the ID. I've done a lot more research on the various hummingbird moth species over the past couple of days. Thanks.

Registered on September 17, 2005, 312 Posts, 600 Comments

Comment posted by Esme' Fantozzi on August 13, 2011 at 10:48 AM

Very beautiful

thank you for sharing.

Registered on July 27, 2006, 50 Posts, 300 Comments

Comment posted by Sam Rua on August 14, 2011 at 10:42 PM

Super flight shot, Tom.

Registered on September 9, 2006, 130 Posts, 2281 Comments