I walked out to grab something from my shed and noticed this big "Striped Hawk Moth" (I had to Google it to get his name, lol). I grabbed my camera and took the first shot but you can't see his face so I carefully removed the can he was up against and tried to shoot him from the other side. The way he was facing I couldn't shoot straight on to his face. I used a small headlamp to try and bring out the details of his face and underside but now the black plastic is too shiny. Both photos are straight from camera. Any suggestions?
It would help to know you're using to capture the image...........if it cool/cold enough(early morning) you might be able to move it without it taking flight........a flash(diffused) at a lower power would help.
It was shot at 12:20 pm on AP F5.6 shutter speed 0.4 and ISO 200, focal length 55mm in portrait mode. Maybe I should have used partial metering mode instead of evaluative? I just realized that was on from the day before when I was expermenting. The only flash I have is on camera and I didn't like that so I used my headlamp but when I was reviewing the photos today I noticed how bright that black plastic was and wondered if there were a better way. It didn't move when I moved the can and I wondered if it were asleep but then I could see it's eyes so I didn't try to shift the plastic so it wouldn't take off.
These are cool moths. Also called Hummingbird Moths because they can hover and fly backwards or forwards.
Your light and focus looks fine to me. Just too bad about his surroundings.
Terry is right about cool temps make them stiff. You might try and gently slide a piece of paper under him and move him to the wooden shed wall or some other backdrop. Sometimes they will actually lift their feet and step into the paper. If he doesn't, I'd leave him and chalk it off to nature being what it is!