Sex on the Birch

No, it's not a new cocktail. I found this pair of Hawthorn Shieldbugs in-cop on my garden Silver Birch sapling this evening .....

Hawthorn Shieldbug

I guess if I had hawthorn in the garden they may have chosen it instead. I'd nipped in the garden to get a prop for some moth photography. I decided it was time to have a quick look for something different and I plumped for an algae-covered terracotta plant pot. Not sure it was ideal, but never mind. I find choosing a prop a bit hit and miss - everything works well for something and not so well for others, and frankly I once I'm set I just need to get on with it using whatever I picked. I do need to get out and sort out some new props, different stones and bark and ideally something with a nice lichen colony,

Mottled Beauty

Small Magpie

Barred Straw

Willow Beauty

Short-cloaked Moth

Sweep Net Bits & Garden Moths

Late home from work yesterday evening, but seeing as it was mild and going to be light for another good hour and a half I decided to head over to Huncote Embankment for a bit of fresh air and a swish about with my net. Not too much flying about moth-wise, but plenty of stuff in the net and naturally a few bits potted up .... like these ....

Crytocephalus moraei

Leptogaster cylindrica

Tibellus oblongus

Tachyporus obtusus

 Leptopterna dolabrata

Common Froghopper

When I got home from this foray it was just in time to get the moth trap on - that's trap singular. I forgot to mention last week that my superb Synergetic trap got trashed by Nichola in a bizarre 'getting my bike out of the shed' incident which somehow caused the trap to hit the floor at just the wrong velocity and angle to ensure that the Synergetic ring got smashed to smithereens. Seeing as the mothing has been a bit pants anyway I haven't been bothered with getting one of my other traps out and have just been running the regular 125W MV. Naturally, with so little mothing of late there have been a fair few firsts for the year in the garden, and of course that garden first Isotrias rectifasciana that I've already posted about. Last night was the best so far this year.

18/06/2012 : 23 of 17sp.
0017  Common Swift (Hepialus lupulinus)  2
0332a  Firethorn Leaf Miner (Phyllonorycter leucographella)  1 (NFY)
0994  Clepsis consimilana  1 (NFY)
0998  Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)  1
1014  Isotrias rectifasciana  1 (FFG)
1076  Celypha lacunana  1 (NFY)
1083  Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana)  2 (NFY)
1115  Ancylis achatana  1 (NFY)
1376  Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata)  1 (NFY)
1728  Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)  2
1827  Freyer's Pug (Eupithecia intricata arceuthata)  1
1834  Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)  3
1937  Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)  2
1941  Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata)  1 (NFY)
1981  Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi)  1
2302  Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea)  1 (NFY)
2387  Mottled Rustic (Caradrina morpheus)  1 (NFY)

Mottled Beauty

19/06/2012 :40 of 25sp.
0647  Brown House Moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella)  1
0874  Blastobasis lacticolella  1
0970  Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana)  1 (NFY)
0998  Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)  1
1014  Isotrias rectifasciana  1
1076  Celypha lacunana  4
1082  Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana)  3
1174  Epiblema cynosbatella  1
1176  Epiblema trimaculana  1 (NFY)
1334  Scoparia ambigualis  2 (NFY)
1376  Small Magpie (Eurrhypara hortulata)  2
1392  Udea olivalis  1
1428  Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella)  2
1713  Riband Wave (Idaea aversata)  1 (NFY)
1742  Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata)  1 (NFY)
1764  Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata)  1
1819  Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata)  2
1827  Freyer's Pug (Eupithecia intricata arceuthata)  2
1834  Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)  1
1860  Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata)  1 (NFY)
2120  Ingrailed Clay (Diarsia mendica)  1
2126  Setaceous Hebrew Character (Xestia c-nigrum)  1
2321  Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha)  1 (NFY)
2334  Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens)  3
2337x  Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.)  4 (NFY)

Silver-ground Carpet

20/06/2012 : 86 of 41sp.
0017  Common Swift (Hepialus lupulinus)  1
0246  Tinea semifulvella  1 (NFY)
0602  Elachista apicipunctella  1
0647  Brown House Moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella)  1
0874  Blastobasis lacticolella  5
0905  Blastodacna hellerella  1 (NFY)
0970  Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix (Pandemis cerasana)  1
0994  Clepsis consimilana  1
0998  Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)  3
1010  Red-barred Tortrix (Ditula angustiorana)  2 (NFY)
1076  Celypha lacunana  1
1083  Marbled Orchard Tortrix (Hedya nubiferana)  2
1174  Epiblema cynosbatella  2
1334  Scoparia ambigualis  1
1338  Dipleurina lacustrata  1 (NFY)
1392  Udea olivalis  1
1428  Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella)  9
1713  Riband Wave (Idaea aversata)  2
1727  Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata)  1 (NFY)
1728  Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)  2
1738  Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata)  1
1764  Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata)  1
1819  Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata)  1
1827  Freyer's Pug (Eupithecia intricata arceuthata)  2
1834  Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)  7
1837  Grey Pug (Eupithecia subfuscata)  3
1860  Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata)  3
1906  Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)  2
1920  Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata)  2
1937  Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)  5
1941  Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata)  3
1979  Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae)  1 (NFY)
2069  Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae)  1
2089  Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis)  2
2302  Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea)  1
2334  Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens)  1
2337x  Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.)  3
2340  Middle-barred Minor (Oligia fasciuncula)  2 (NFY)
2384  Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua)  2
2473  Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula)  3 (NFY)
2477  Snout (Hypena proboscidalis)  1 (NFY)

Lime Hawk-moth

No trap out tonight though. Sadly but predictably, seeing as tonight is the first of this year's Moth Night period, it is pissing down.

Digital Deceit?

I take lots of photos, and just about all of the ones that are published on this blog have been processed through Photoshop. I must start by stating that I in no way consider myself to be any sort of Photoshop expert - there are lots of things that can probably be done, or can done a lot more easily, that I have no idea about.

The vast majority of the images that I post on here have minimal intervention other than adjusting contrast/levels if necessary, a little unsharpening, cropping and then I save in the web-optimised format. Here's an example of something straight from the camera - no adjustments or cropping, just resized:

and here's the same image cropped and with minimal tweaking:

This is the typical pre and post Photoshop result that I am comfortable with as being 'normal' for digital photography, and I would in no way consider this to be 'cheating'. But the amount of adjustment and fiddling is basically dependant on how good the original image is, and that in itself is dependant on how good the lighting was etc. Sometimes to get something useable requires a bit more effort, like removing colour casts or changing colour curves.

Here's an example of a completely useless original image of a mobile subject taken in rubbish indoor lighting - no tweaking at all, just resized:

and here's the same image after removing the colour cast, tweaking contrast and levels, unsharpening and cropping - still a rubbish image but a bit more useable than might have been possible without Photoshop:

To my mind, this is still within the bounds of acceptable manipulation - any dissenters?

Even less frequently though, I'll do something a bit more fundamental like completely removing an annoying bit of background or fixing some damage. Here's a before and after comparison:

 

On the one hand I am quite chuffed at how expertly I have copied part of the right wing, flipped it and pasted it onto the damaged left one such that you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't told you. However I do feel as though this is the equivalent of airbrushed actresses in their late 40s appearing on magazines without any wrinkles or blemishes and always with just the one chin.

So, where exactly is the boundary between acceptable and deceitful digital manuipulation of images? Is there one? All thoughts and comments welcomed.

Ketton Quarry Pics 3 of 3 - Macros

Red-necked Footman

Treble Brown Spot

Bordered Sallow

Concolorous

Figure of Eighty

Burnished Brass f. chrysitis

Mottled Beauty - very mottled example in odd pose!

Ruddy Carpet - couldn't resist uploading another shot