[Weevil]

Very nice Giant Moth...
One of the biggest in Québec.
Look at the bottom wings: looks like 2 fishes that do a hug..
I was close to only publish that part zoomed.

Pentax K-1 + SMC Pentax-D FA 50mm F2.8 Macro with PENTAX AF 160FC Auto Macro Ring Flash
1/200s, ƒ/10, ISO 100
#Pentax, #PentaxK1 #K1, #RicohImages


Polyphème d'Amérique / Polyphemus Moth [Antheraea polyphemus]
(xposted)

[Weevil]

Clématite / Clematis [Clematis sp.]

Pentax K-1 + SMC Pentax-D FA 50mm F2.8 + PENTAX AF 160FC Auto Macro Ring Flash
1/200s, ƒ/16, ISO 100
#Pentax, #PentaxK1 #K1, #RicohImages


Clématite / Clematis [Clematis sp.]
(xposted)

[Canada_Rockies]

Very nice Giant Moth...
One of the biggest in Québec.
Look at the bottom wings: looks like 2 fishes that do a hug..
I was close to only publish that part zoomed.

Pentax K-1 + SMC Pentax-D FA 50mm F2.8 Macro with PENTAX AF 160FC Auto Macro Ring Flash
1/200s, ƒ/10, ISO 100
#Pentax, #PentaxK1 #K1, #RicohImages


Polyphème d'Amérique / Polyphemus Moth [Antheraea polyphemus]
(xposted)

Neat moth, Weevil

[WPRESTO]

Very nice Giant Moth...
One of the biggest in Québec.
Look at the bottom wings: looks like 2 fishes that do a hug..
I was close to only publish that part zoomed.

Pentax K-1 + SMC Pentax-D FA 50mm F2.8 Macro with PENTAX AF 160FC Auto Macro Ring Flash
1/200s, ƒ/10, ISO 100
#Pentax, #PentaxK1 #K1, #RicohImages


Polyphème d'Amérique / Polyphemus Moth [Antheraea polyphemus]
(xposted)

FYI in the unlikely event that you did not know. The big colorful spots on the wings of many months, especially on the hind wings, are sometimes called "owl eyes." If threatened by a bird, many moths will suddenly expose or "flash" the spots which to the bird look like the eyes of an owl that might kill them. The bird is startled at least temporarily, and the moth survives either by just staying put or by having a few critical moments to fly away.

[Aaron28]

removed the glass from two different 2x teleconverters to make extension tubes...pretty groovy....no crop..sears 135/f2.8 macro....af360fgz....k-3ii

[WPRESTO]

A turtle-shaped earring, probably plastic rather than amber, but hard to tell for certain

[rgknief60]

It is likely that most of you rarely run into this situation--but it this why I shoot RAW + JPG. I don't always get things right the first (or second) time!

This image was probably taken when I began to adjust the flash, so it is quite underexposed.

The first image is a crop from the Out Of Camera JPG. The second is the best I could produce after post processing the OOC JPG. The final image is processed from the RAW. As you can see from the histograms and a visual inspection of the images, there is not much usable information in the JPG. But the RAW yields a better result. I've tried to figure out how to use flash with live view on the K 1. Is it possible? If so, what settings allow me to do so?


On a monarch note: yesterday I had three of these on my Swamp Milkweed that were about 2 to 2.5 inches long. Today they were all gone. A girdled leaf ready to be eaten has caterpillar stain on it. In spite of the toxins they have, I suspect fowl play. There are only a couple smaller ones left. I'm thinking about collecting and feeding them to adult so at least a couple make it. Do any of you have experience with that?




Underexposed Raw vs. JPG Capture

---

Last edited by rgknief60; 08-29-2020 at 05:32 PM. Reason: Clarity

[rgknief60]

Very nice Giant Moth...

I like the image. Thanks for posting it!

Your image was just the nudge I needed to run the last Polyphemus related stack I took in May.

As I walked by our river birch I saw a piece of bark that looked a bit big. Closer inspection revealed this moth. I took a few stacks, and only got one that was usable. Her movements, though not visible to me, were enough to make editing the stack a long tedious process. I did not disturb her for the wing shot as I thought she was pumping up her wings. You can see the one is quite wrinkled. It may not have inflated properly, as I found when I edited the image that she previously laid eggs. I tried after dark for a couple of stacks with flash, but she was more active, and was unable to assemble an image. I wound up using the images to make a flickering video of her movements.

The next morning she was gone, so I took stacks of her eggs. The two egg images are from two different stacks. The last stack I enlarged 200% and sharpened to show detail of the eggs. It is 3200x1800 at 200%, posted here at 1600x pixels.

All images taken with the K-1. The moth image was taken at 200mm. The two image stacks of the eggs were taken with a Zongyi Freewalker Series 20mm F2.0 4-4.5x Super Macro. Our database has it listed as a Mitakon brand, but it is the same lens. It is a totally manual lens. I did not record aperture and magnification data. They recommend F2 for best detail, and not to go beyond f8, even though one can go to f16. When I picked it up a few minutes ago, the aperture is set at f5.6, well into diffraction territory. The trade-off is that I am unable to advance in small enough increments manually at F2 to make a decent stack, so I live with some diffraction. The aperture is clickless. It's basically an inexpensive microscope lens for your camera. A Nikon Plan Acromat microscope objective adapted for work with a Pentax lens can cost twice as much.




Polyphemus Moth with Eggs


Polyphemus Moth Eggs


Polyphemus Moth Egg Detail

[Weevil]

I like the image. Thanks for posting it!

Your image was just the nudge I needed to run the last Polyphemus related stack I took in May.

As I walked by our river birch I saw a piece of bark that looked a bit big. Closer inspection revealed this moth. I took a few stacks, and only got one that was usable. Her movements, though not visible to me, were enough to make editing the stack a long tedious process. I did not disturb her for the wing shot as I thought she was pumping up her wings. You can see the one is quite wrinkled. It may not have inflated properly, as I found when I edited the image that she previously laid eggs. I tried after dark for a couple of stacks with flash, but she was more active, and was unable to assemble an image. I wound up using the images to make a flickering video of her movements.

The next morning she was gone, so I took stacks of her eggs. The two egg images are from two different stacks. The last stack I enlarged 200% and sharpened to show detail of the eggs. It is 3200x1800 at 200%, posted here at 1600x pixels.

All images taken with the K-1. The moth image was taken at 200mm. The two image stacks of the eggs were taken with a Zongyi Freewalker Series 20mm F2.0 4-4.5x Super Macro. Our database has it listed as a Mitakon brand, but it is the same lens. It is a totally manual lens. I did not record aperture and magnification data. They recommend F2 for best detail, and not to go beyond f8, even though one can go to f16. When I picked it up a few minutes ago, the aperture is set at f5.6, well into diffraction territory. The trade-off is that I am unable to advance in small enough increments manually at F2 to make a decent stack, so I live with some diffraction. The aperture is clickless. It's basically an inexpensive microscope lens for your camera. A Nikon Plan Acromat microscope objective adapted for work with a Pentax lens can cost twice as much.




Polyphemus Moth with Eggs


Polyphemus Moth Eggs


Polyphemus Moth Egg Detail

Wow, incredible details on the eggs!

[Canada_Rockies]

I like the image. Thanks for posting it!

Your image was just the nudge I needed to run the last Polyphemus related stack I took in May.

A great series! Thank you for posting it.

[Aaron28]

some more of the removed glass from two different 2x teleconverters to make extension tubes.......no crop..sears 135/f2.8 macro....af360fgz....k-3ii

[Shedking]

Scorpion Fly (Panorpa communis). KP with 100 WR and HD DA 1.4x teleconverter, built in flash. As a walk-around, portable bug-hunting combination, I can't fault this pairing.

My large, heavy Irix 150mm macro has a serious rival.

[rgknief60]

Wow, incredible details on the eggs!

A great series! Thank you for posting it.

Thanks a lot. I was surprised with the detail on the eggs as the old Velbon stage has a pretty coarse adjustment. There are 181 images in the last stack, of which the eggs are a small crop. Time did not permit me to scan the images and weed out those that were less than ideal, nor edit the final output, so there might be a bit more detail available. I have a feeling that it is a happy accident that I happened to nail focus. It's probably my best detail on a subject to date. I'd really like a Stack Shot for some of these subjects.

100 WR and HD DA 1.4x teleconverter, built in flash

Thanks for the image and listing the gear you used. You did a nice job with it. Hope I can find the time (just went back to work full-time today) to put on my teleconverter and see what I can accomplish with it. If I could choose to have a flash in place of the K-1's GPS module, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I do so much natural light macro that my other bodies rarely see the light of day as their dynamic range does not come close to that of the K-1. I got the Venus Optics "My Favorite Martian" flash on a good sale, but it is a bit unwieldy for extended use. The weight tires out the hands and soon the benefit of the flash is outweighed by the fatigue factor.

[Shedking]

Thanks a lot. I was surprised with the detail on the eggs as the old Velbon stage has a pretty coarse adjustment. There are 181 images in the last stack, of which the eggs are a small crop. Time did not permit me to scan the images and weed out those that were less than ideal, nor edit the final output, so there might be a bit more detail available. I have a feeling that it is a happy accident that I happened to nail focus. It's probably my best detail on a subject to date. I'd really like a Stack Shot for some of these subjects.




Thanks for the image and listing the gear you used. You did a nice job with it. Hope I can find the time (just went back to work full-time today) to put on my teleconverter and see what I can accomplish with it. If I could choose to have a flash in place of the K-1's GPS module, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I do so much natural light macro that my other bodies rarely see the light of day as their dynamic range does not come close to that of the K-1. I got the Venus Optics "My Favorite Martian" flash on a good sale, but it is a bit unwieldy for extended use. The weight tires out the hands and soon the benefit of the flash is outweighed by the fatigue factor.

I learnt how to raise caterpillars to adults by studying Stone and Midwinter's book "Butterfly Culture". Used copies are regularly on secondhand sites; much cheaper in the UK than in the US, though.

My landlady hated me for it...

[normhead]

More shrooms
K-1, DFA 100 macro
Pixel shift