by andrewjcharlton on Sun Jul 14, 2019 3:29 pm
Hi Steve,
thank you for confirming the Slender Pug for me.
With regard to the photos, I've used the same setup for over 10 years. Almost all my 'record' photos are taken with artificial light, with the moth on a green paper sheet within a shallow white plastic tray, the sides of which help to reflect and diffuse what is otherwise unidirectional light.
Personally I always considered the green sheet to give a useful neutral background to display the moth for diagnostic purposes, and also to give me a consistent reference colour for determining the quality of the exposure and colour balance (always a problem with predominantly artificial light).
I have found this method more convenient than trying to use only daylight and risking losing the moth trying to record it in a more 'natural' setting . As the colour spectrum of natural light changes with time of day, I seem to get a different colour balance depending on when I take the shots of moths.
I guess also image colour is affected both by the settings on the digital camera and by the display settings of the equipment being used to view the digital image (for example there is a colour difference between the monitor on my camera and my PC screen). I recall that when photographing my image of Spanish Carpet (in Manley and on UK moths) I was able to picture both colour forms with the same moth, just by altering the light balance setting on the camera!
I've never worried too much about this, since shape and markings seem to have more bearing on identifications than subtleties of colour. However, now you have pointed out that my green background is a problem for some, I'm very happy to experiment again with alternatives.
There are some consistently excellent photos appearing from some contributors to the forum (but also many of lesser quality). I know Brian Hancock's pug book details his photographic technique, but it might be interesting to hear from other people how they go about getting consistently good results and 'natural' colours.
Thanks again for your thought-provoking comment,
Andrew