She was at eye level on the wall and the side shots did not work so well

[JBW]

[Downrigger]

Neat shot. She (he? those are pretty feathery antennae) is not going to help you by settling on a color disparate background I'll bet. I'm thinking there's reason she's color-coordinated her wings and the substrate she picked. Maybe a radial filter or heavy vignetting would help?

[Geoff F]

That has worked fine.

Top shots are usually easiest and give best identification results for moths. Sometimes a 45 degree angle works, particularly with those subjects which rest with their wings held 'tent like' over the body.

Getting close up shots of the antennae and legs is often impossible with live subjects due to a lack of suitable angles.

One trick which I use with moths which get attracted to my windows is to catch them and keep in collecting tubes in my refrigerator overnight.

Then when there is suitable light, or using a mixture of 'studio' lighting I use some simple background props. Some pieces of bark, large leaves or wood etc can produce backgrounds where they feel happy.

In most cases, when I tip them out onto a suitable background they will happily sit there while I work out the best angles and camera settings. In fact, after the 'session' when I take them outside for release, they are often reluctant to leave the background materials.

I set up my background scenes in a shallow container about 8 ins diameter with a 1 or 2 ins rim. This can easily be tipped and rotated to create a suitable angle simply by placing a wedge underneath. When coupled with varying my camera angle, this gives me an opportunity to get exactly the required photo angles with a natural looking result.

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[JBW]

Neat shot. She (he? those are pretty feathery antennae) is not going to help you by settling on a color disparate background I'll bet. I'm thinking there's reason she's color-coordinated her wings and the substrate she picked. Maybe a radial filter or heavy vignetting would help?

radial filter?

[JBW]

That has worked fine.

Top shots are usually easiest and give best identification results for moths. Sometimes a 45 degree angle works, particularly with those subjects which rest with their wings held 'tent like' over the body.

Getting close up shots of the antennae and legs is often impossible with live subjects due to a lack of suitable angles.

One trick which I use with moths which get attracted to my windows is to catch them and keep in collecting tubes in my refrigerator overnight.

Then when there is suitable light, or using a mixture of 'studio' lighting I use some simple background props. Some pieces of bark, large leaves or wood etc can produce backgrounds where they feel happy.

In most cases, when I tip them out onto a suitable background they will happily sit there while I work out the best angles and camera settings. In fact, after the 'session' when I take them outside for release, they are often reluctant to leave the background materials.

I set up my background scenes in a shallow container about 8 ins diameter with a 1 or 2 ins rim. This can easily be tipped and rotated to create a suitable angle simply by placing a wedge underneath. When coupled with varying my camera angle, this gives me an opportunity to get exactly the required photo angles with a natural looking result.

I [I]may[I] give that technique a try. But I have restricted feeling in my fingers and there would be a good hance of me damaging the beasties.
B