This moth would probably do better hiding on a mossy or lichen-covered tree with that intricate green and dark brown pattern.

I’ve written enough posts now that I am worried about repeating myself. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I like to be consistent and accurate. Not to mention creative and engaging. The good thing for me is, repetition can be part of creativity. I pulled this moth (possibly from family Geometridae, which a lot of people know for the caterpillars, i.e. inchworms) from the dusty parts of my archive. It immediately reminded me of a post I wrote about the trouble with photographing moths. It had to do in large part with the nature of shooting flat subjects pressed up against flat surfaces like a wall. Our pretty moth here was like a living wafer for the camera’s purpose, and it was hugging the leaf tightly and uniformly. What opens up the options here is, unlike a wall, a leaf substrate allows for different angles. I attempted with some success to isolate the moth’s body in the focal plane. I would have preferred getting more definition on the eye, but I got enough to give the shot some life. Sometimes difficult subjects require going in and mucking around. And then starting over. I forget it often myself, but failure is a good teacher; the way forward is on the other side.