An encounter with Hummingbird hawk-moths

Years ago - September 2013 to be precise - I took one, very lucky, shot of a Hummingbird hawk-moth, Macroglossum stellatarum,  Here's the shot:

Lucky in the sense that I was photographing this Ceratostigma willmottianum in my garden and the moth appeared, paused briefly to drink nectar, and then flew off, giving me time for only the one shot.  Lucky in that I had the Sigma 105mm macro on my, at the time, Canon 60D.  Lucky in that I was working at ISO 400, f6.3, and 1/200 sec and I somehow managed to get the eye, flower and proboscis reasonably sharp.  

Unfortunately everything else was blurred.  No wonder it's never sold.

I've seen these occasional UK summer migrant moths a few times since but never again managed to successfully photograph them.  Until last Monday.

I was working at The Garden House, collecting my usual social media shots.  I'd temporarily fitted the 100-400mm to the OM-1 to capture some nesting Jackdaws in the roof space of the old bothy behind the Walled Garden. I had bird detect on, continuous autofocus and sequential shooting set, ISO 1600 selected and the lens wide open at f6.3, giving a shutter speed between 1/000 and 2/1000 sec.  I happened to be near a patch of Nepeta (catmint) when a Hummingbird hawk-moth came to feed.

And then the fun began.  

Like hummingbirds these little moths flit about in unpredictable direction, wings blurred with the speed of their motion, briefly hovering in front of a flower to insert their long proboscis and drink the nectar.  Above all, they never settle while feeding.  Blink and they're gone.  Surely the harshest test of an autofocus system possible.  I had a lot of failures.  As evidenced by these three shots:

At first sight they look quite reasonable (I've cropped the images to square format only to cut out some extraneous content at the sides)  Now look at a 100% crop of the last image.

Not quite the success it appeared to be on first examination.  The swift, unpredictable, darting flight was producing real problems in attaining and keeping focus on the moth.  The others are slightly better but they've still missed focus.

But gradually, and aided by the arrival of a second moth*, I started getting a few better shots.

Sharper, more detailed and, most importantly, with better focus accuracy.  There's still the problem of wing blur but I didn't have enough light to raise the shutter speed to further freeze motion.  

In the end I finished with 3 shots I was reasonably happy with, and another shot (#1 in the final sequence) that was passable out of 46 in total.  The 100-400mm autofocus is just fast enough for the job though I suspect the PRO series lenses such as my 40-150mm might have been a bit faster and more capable of holding focus.  But you work with what you've got and an unpredictable small insect in flight would test any camera and lens combination.

An enjoyable experience.  I'd have continued but the moths took off for pastures anew and I didn't see them again.

* How do I know there were two moths?  Look at the backs.  One is fully covered, one distinctly worn where the scales have been rubbed away.

OM System 100-400mm MK II - some lessons learned

I mentioned in my recent post that I'd acquired the Mk II iteration of the OM 100-400mm for it's sync IS.  I also mentioned that I hadn't had that much chance to use it to it's full potential due to the weather being pretty rubbish.  It's still early days but now I've had a better opportunity. with sunny conditions, a visit to Lopwell Dam, where the tidal waters of the Tamar meets the fresh water of the River Tavy, and a couple of hours spare to try some bird photography.  Missing was a great variety of birds but there were a few around.  And a few lessons were learned.

Lesson 1:  Working with 400mm

I was working from the bank and these Canada Geese were on a low tide island about 50 metres away.  Hand holding with both arms supported on a fence rail gave me reasonably sharp shot at ISO 800, 1/1250 sec, f6.3 (wide open).  I've cropped in a little but not excessively.  Examined closely I'd have been better upping the ISO to 1600 to give a slightly sharper - less motion blur - shot at 1/2500 sec.  No wonder other photographers routinely use higher ISOs to keep the speed up, albeit with an increase in noise..

Another part of the flock were on the water, a little closer, allowing me to get some reflection images.  Same settings as before but the goose was larger in the frame giving a little more detail on the feathers.

Again, I've cropped a little to give a better framed image.

The lessons learned?  Even for big birds 400mm on a wide estuary is only just enough reach unless they come close.  Without the camouflage of a hide, most don't.  And 1/1250 sec shutter speed is barely enough.  Take a hit with higher ISOs and noisier images to sharpen the shots.

Lesson 2: Lets try the 1.4x teleconverter

Want more reach?  Add a teleconverter.  As I only own the Olympus 1.4x that was my only choice. 400mm became 560mm; hence more pixels on the birds. That's the upside.  The downside is that that I'm down to f9 wide open, f10 for preference to allow for the slight reduction in wide open image quality from the extra glass.  That means higher ISO to keep shutter speeds up.  Is it worth it to get capture images where more distant birds appear larger in the frame?

Yes.

I'd added the teleconverter when, on the distant bank opposite, a cormorant landed to dry it's wings.  ISO up to 1/1250, f10, 1/1600 sec and shot taken.  I'd popped the camera on a tripod for this as I'd previously found that adding the 1.4x was a bit much for my shaky handholding.  Here's the result:

Lessons learned?  The 1.4x works - but it has a cost, particularly on a slow lens such as the 100-400mm.  With modern noise reduction (more on this in a separate post later) it's worth the risk but there's always that downside.  

Although it can work very well...

Lesson 3:  Try baiting

As photographers do, we chat.  By chance I met up with a more experienced bird shooter and after some conversation he suggested trying a bit of baiting on a fence rail by the estuary bank.  He had some seed, put it out, and within a minute I had a Dunnock landing for a feed.

Then a male chaffinch.

Followed in quick succession by a cock pheasant who'd sauntered down the road in greedy anticipation.

I still had the 1.4x teleconverter on so I had to go to ISO 1600.  Even that was marginal for the Dunnock at 1/320 sec though the detail is certainly there.  As for the pheasant it's not hard to imagine the delight when their flamboyance was first introduced to the UK.

Lessons learned?  Baiting works if done regularly.  The spot these final two shots were taken is regularly baited by other birders.  I'll be joining their number and carry seed with me next time I'm at Lopwell.  Secondly, although I didn't need the 1.4x - straight 400mm would have been enough - it actually held up very well at closer range.

A satisfying day,