Hummingbird hawk moth...

[MacroLuv]

... with olive green shoulder.
Is there any advantage having that brush tail?
Could be 1/2000 s enough to get the wings still?



Model Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
Date/time original 07.08.2007 11:31:04
Shutter speed value 1/640 s
Aperture value f/5.6
ISO speed ratings ISO 200
Focal length 100 mm



Model Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
Date/time original 07.08.2007 11:31:35
Shutter speed value 1/1000 s
Aperture value f/5.6
ISO speed ratings ISO 200
Focal length 100 mm

[jaharris1001]

wow excellent captures again nikola,, very interesting,, looks like a hummingbird

[McCluskey]

Wow - great captures as always-

Do you live in some kind of special "macro insect preserve" or something? The amount and variety of bugs you seem to capture (dragonflies, that exotic mantis, this guy) seem endless. Makes me jealous.

[Ken Ramos]

These are wonderful Everyone seems to find and capture these things but me. I'm jealous

[MacroLuv]

Thanks guys.

Wow - great captures as always-

Do you live in some kind of special "macro insect preserve" or something? The amount and variety of bugs you seem to capture (dragonflies, that exotic mantis, this guy) seem endless. Makes me jealous.

Most of the photos were taken from one little isle. For example one of our isle has more herbal species than some whole countries of Northen Europe. Thanks to Ice Age which ended about 10000 years ago.

[dougsmit]

Could be 1/2000 s enough to get the wings still?

I have a gallery full of Hemeris photos and only one with sharp wings. This was 1/1250 but the reason for the sharpness was pure luck. The wings were caught at the very top where they were changing direction before the downstroke. Your 1/2000 will stop the action but only if the action is pausing.

There is a great photo book from 1975 Borne on the Wind by Steven Dalton showing wing stopping flash photos taken in the studio with captive specimens. His chart shows Hawk Moths as having up to 90 wing beats per second (slow compared to midges at 1000). He calculated that the results wanted for his photos required 1/25000 second flash duration.

I note today there are 13 copies of this book available used on Amazon.com. When new, Dalton's images were spectacular to my mind. I suspect that modern equipment and the digital age have allowed others to exceed him but for 1975, any wing stopping was really special.

[MacroLuv]

Thanks Doug.
Seems we need some luck capturing them.
By the way... excellent gallery!