Anya and I took another trip out to Deer Lakes Park to see what we could find to shoot. I was mainly looking for more macro photos.

As we walked along, I saw this small bright blue moth fluttering around. I tracked it for a few minutes, then managed to pick it up. This isn't something I do too often, as I try to not impact anything I photograph, but I figured if I could be careful enough to not injure the moth, it would be ok. Maybe this is a technique I can work on improving and using to my advantage.

Once I managed to catch the little guy, he actually seemed very willing to hang out, easily moving from hand to hand if I just put another finger in front of him he would walk up onto it. After looking around for a bit, Anya found a small clump of moss that would work great as a backdrop.

As I held the moth, I noticed his proboscis was scanning over my hand, and I decided I wanted to try and photograph that. Luckily, he continued to search through the moss with his proboscis the same way.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 180mm f/3.5 Di SP LD 1:1 Macro, 1/170 sec at f/8. ISO 200. No post production. Deer Lakes Park, Tarentum, PA.

Unfortunately, I didn't do such a great job of getting the shot I wanted. There were a few things I had in mind while taking these photos - some improvements I wanted to make, some things I wanted to try. But at the same time, there where are a couple of things I did wrong, and some things I simply forgot.

• Hand-held Shooting: This is a bad habit that I think I need to break sometime soon. I am not a big fan of the tripod we own (I've been telling myself for a while we need a new one). However, I rarely carry a tripod with me when I head out into the field. I sometimes get away with it, but today was not one of those days.
• Smaller Aperture, Slower Shutter Speed: I've been looking at some of my macro photography, and I'm starting to wish I had used a smaller aperture to capture more depth of field. So today was when I thought to try that. The photo here was shot at f/8. Combine that with my reluctance to carry a tripod, and you increase your chances of blurry photos.
• Poor Framing: This photo is only one out of ten that did not cut off any part of the moth. This is something I'm rather disappointed in myself with. Granted this is something that is easy to do with macro where any movement is exaggerated. But that's really no excuse, I simply wasn't taking the time I should have been to get things lined up.

All in all, I came away with a fairly disappointing set of photos, but some important reminders about things I need to keep in mind when out taking photos. Hopefully next time out, I can work on the juggling act that is remembering all the pieces that need to come together to be able capture that remarkable image.

Have any suggestions for things I could do to improve these photos? Or have any questions about the things I did right or wrong with my shots? Or just want to commiserate about the struggles of macro photography? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

- Bill