Sphinx Moth
Taken on a lovely September day in Door County, WI
Taken on a lovely September day in Door County, WI
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Apr, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken in a perennial garden at an art studio in Door County, Wisconsin which is one of my favorite places to unwind.Time
It was 3:30 in the afternoon.Lighting
Almost all of my nature photography, including this, is done with natural light. I did not use any flash or reflectors for this photo, just the camera and natural filter from the clouds in the sky.Equipment
I used a Canon EOS 60D with EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens at 102mm. No other equipment was used.I had to stay very mobile in order to follow this guy around.Inspiration
At first I was just going to admire the pretty flowers and garden accents, but when I spotted this sphinx moth I had to run back to the car for my camera! I have admired these creatures for years but I rarely had an opportunity to photograph them since they are scarce in numbers and typically come out at dusk.Editing
I did very little post-processing - just some sharpening and cropping in order to frame it how I wanted.In my camera bag
My camera bag was pretty empty just a few years ago, but like most people who catch the photography bug, I am slowly growing my stash. My very first DSLR and lens were the same ones I used to take this picture - Canon EOS 60D and EF24-105 F/4L lens. They still hold a primary spot in my bag. The 24-105 lens is quite versatile and is often the one I grab when I'm not quite sure what I will encounter on my photowalk. At some point there will be pretty birds and wildlife, so I keep a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens in my bag for those. Most recently I added a 100mm macro for closeup shots of flowers and other goodies that might be found on the forest floor. My other essentials include a sturdy tripod, polarizing warming filter, graduated ND filters for landscapes, and a remote release cable for starry nights.Feedback
The number one piece of advice is to always keep your camera close and expect the unexpected. This was a casual stop at an art design studio with a pretty garden. I never expected to run into a sphinx moth and I'm so glad I had my camera with me! If you've never seen a sphinx moth, they are also know as a hummingbird moth because their wings beat as fast has a hummingbird and they float from flower to flower in search of nectar. I knew I needed a fast shutter to stop the wing action so I put the camera in shutter priority mode set at 1/1600. I also increased the ISO to 800. The camera adjusted for the lighting with an aperture of 5.0 which also provided a nice soft background. I used AI Servo auto-focus mode and high-speed continuous shooting to keep the moth in focus while it fluttered about.
