Barbara Hunley
October 2025 - Untitled
About the Image(s)
On September 22, I saw that my night blooming Cereus plant had a bud that was going to open that evening.
I waited until 2:00am until it was fully opened to take the picture. After taking some pictures, I saw a fluttering among the other plants and suddenly the Sphinx Moth appeared and began to pollenate the bloom!
In all the years I have been taking Cereus pictures in the middle of the night, never have I had the experience of the Sphinx Moth landing on a bloom. I shot the picture so fast and that was the only one I got before he flew away.
I had my Nikon D8i50 on a tripod with a Nikon flash directed up to bounce off a white 36” reflector.
My camera settings were f/9, 20sec, ISO 640
1 comment posted
Hi Barbara: Am glad you explained the situation that was happening before your eyes so we could understand and appreciate the significance. You may have photographed what I would consider as a 'Life Time' image as this exact situation may not happen again.
A couple of suggestions: I would darken down the green flower stem as it is out of focus and a little bright. In doing so it would not be so prominent in the picture and it would not call attention to itself.
Nice sharp detail on the white flower and moth, and good camera craftsmanship with the flash.
Also in this case with the black background of the main picture I would consider adding a thin white border to frame the image. Except for where the stem enters the picture area I cannot tell where your picture area ends against the black webpage of our circuit.
A special picture for your files and you were indeed fortunate to shoot this one frame before he left.
Posted: 10/15/2025 03:54:45
A couple of suggestions: I would darken down the green flower stem as it is out of focus and a little bright. In doing so it would not be so prominent in the picture and it would not call attention to itself.
Nice sharp detail on the white flower and moth, and good camera craftsmanship with the flash.
Also in this case with the black background of the main picture I would consider adding a thin white border to frame the image. Except for where the stem enters the picture area I cannot tell where your picture area ends against the black webpage of our circuit.
A special picture for your files and you were indeed fortunate to shoot this one frame before he left.
Posted: 10/15/2025 03:54:45