The colourful ghost

[Prajwal J Ullal]

ID: Specific id of moth appreciated

While traversing a particular patch of the dried up, but wintery, trail, the ambience almost seemed to be dead and desolate. But all of a sudden something popped off the dried up leaves and disappeared in an instance, something that was pretty big and not easily miss-able, right in front of us. On a quest to see what it was I decided to check around the leaves where it seemed to disappear, and after a decent amount of searching finally spotted something sticking off a large(comparatively) drying leaf. On close observation, the protrusion on the leaf was actually a thin and slender moth, blending in very well and, mystically, was looking much smaller than the size it was while flying. The way its massive wings compressed into such a narrow and small size was astonishing, almost like our umbrellas. Nature is full of surprising complexity, and observing and understanding them is really a great experience

EXIF:
Canon 80D
Canon 100mm macro
F/11
Shutterspeed 1/125
ISO 400
Handheld, External flash fired

Location: Nagla trail

[Mrudul Godbole]

You are right, it seems so thin and slender. The long wings can be seen folded nicely at the side. Is the focus locked on the lower part of the body? Maybe a higher ISO and shutter speed would have helped to get more details. The vertical composition looks good. You really have to be very alert to notice such minute movements. Thanks for sharing.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

It is difficult to recognise that this is an invertebrate species and not a dried up twig. I find macro photography a tough genre because the close working distances result in very narrow depth of field. So if the subject is not in critical focus, it becomes difficult. And cropping the photo results in enhancing any less than optimum focus/sharpness etc. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi