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Giant Leopard Moth /  by Todd Henson

A giant leopard moth on my tree

In early June (2025) I noticed a white spot on the tree in my front yard. Looking closer I found a giant leopard moth resting on the bark, so I grabbed my camera and set about photographing it. I ended up coming back a little later after the sun had moved enough to put the moth into shadow, which helped avoid completely blowing out the white of the moth.

A side view of the giant leopard moth

I wouldn’t really consider the moth a giant, though it was a large one, being perhaps an inch long. After a little research I learned the females grow to about this length while the males can grow to about 2 inches in length. When they fly they have a wingspan of about 3 inches. They’re native to portions of North America.

Face to face with a giant leopard moth

It’s easy to see why they’re called leopard moths because of their spots, both black spots and white ones with a black ring, all set against a white body. It’s a beautiful moth.

Photographing the giant leopard moth from the shadowed side

The next morning the moth was gone, which reinforces what I’d learned about their nocturnal nature and how they avoid flying before nightfall. I never did see this one fly, but I enjoyed photographing it.

An angled view of the giant leopard moth

A couple weeks ago my father and I visited a farmers market in Standardsville, a small town a little west of here, where we saw a booth with photos of several types of moths, one of which was the giant leopard moth. The display was informing people of the problems associated with the very invasion spotted lanternfly and trying to help people learn to identify it. The giant leopard moth and several other species were shown as examples of good species, native to the area, but that are sometimes confused with the lanternfly. It was interesting timing seeing this display as I had so recently seen the leopard moth and was actively working on this post.

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White Water Lily - The Story Behind the Image /  by Todd Henson

White Water Lily - the final image

This white water lily image is my favorite photograph from a trip to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens last year. There was light rain in the morning that covered all the flowers with rain drops, and the clouds acted as perfect soft boxes, providing beautiful soft light for white flowers. If it had been fully sunny there would have been far more contrast and far more risk of blowing out highlights and losing detail in the white petals. I felt the lighting was perfect for the subjects.

White Water Lily with ripples in pond

I walked around the ponds containing white water lilies, wanting to capture some images while the light was good. I tried a few shots while rain was falling, as seen above. I liked the ripples in the pond created by the rain. It added some nice patterns, and I thought the flower stood out well against the ripples. But I didn’t care as much for the composition. This particular water lily wasn’t appealing to me and I didn’t like the placement of the lily pads. So I kept walking around the ponds looking for other subjects.

White Water Lily surrounded by lily pads

The next water lily I found was growing at water level. I liked this. I liked how the lowest petals pushed against the water and created some texture. I liked the low angle, but would have liked a better view of the yellow center of the flower. And I was slightly distracted by the lily pad in the front, where a curl of the green overlapped one of the flower petals.

Less distracting White Water Lily, but still lacking something

I found another water lily raised above the water, like the first. I focused in more on the flower, with less distraction in the background. There were some lily pads in the background under the water, but these weren’t overly distracting, and I could lessen the distraction in post-processing. But the shape of the water lily wasn’t working for me. Nor was my placement of the flower dead center in the frame. Thankfully, there were many water lilies in the pond and lots of opportunities for creating different compositions. I moved on to the next one.

White Water Lily, getting closer to a composition I like

Now I was getting somewhere. I had a water lily growing at the surface of the water, with the bottom petals pushing against the water. I had a nice view of the yellow center of the flower. I had what I felt was a beautiful looking water lily. Unfortunately, my framing was off. The flower was dead center, which isn’t always bad, but didn’t seem to work in this case. And there was a distracting, unattractive bit of lily pad on the top right. But I had found the flower I wanted to photograph, I just needed a better composition, a better position to shoot from. So I repositioned myself and kept shooting.

White Water Lily. This is the composition I was looking for.

Now we get to the final composition, the one I was most pleased with. I’d repositioned myself such that I could eliminate any distracting lily pads, but was still able to view some of the nice yellow detail at the center of the flower. The light was great, the flower almost glowed. I checked the image on the camera LCD, then looked at the histogram to be sure I hadn’t blown out any highlights. Nothing was blown out, and no shadows were blocked up, so I’d captured all the detail I could. I make great use of the histogram in judging exposure. One glance and I know if I’m blowing highlights or blocking up shadows, neither of which is necessarily bad, but I want to be intentional in what I’m doing. I’m ok blowing highlights if I know I’m doing it, such as when photographing into the sun or at a shiny silver metallic surface. But in this case I did not want to lose any detail.

White Water Lily, the final edited photo.

When I got home I imported the photos into Lightroom and began the editing process. I don’t usually do a lot of post-processing. In this case the edits consisted mostly of tweaking exposure, highlights, and shadows, and cleaning up some of the distracting elements in the water. I lowered the exposure of the water, darkening it, to help draw attention to the flower. I made sure the flower was nice and white, not a dull grey. I also brought out details in the flower, especially the yellow center. I wanted the center to glow, just as it had when I saw it.

Looking back, I wish I’d tried some shots with greater depth of field (higher f-stop number). I would have liked to see more detail in the back petals. But I’m still very happy with the results. Below is a comparison of before and after. I hope you enjoy, and I hope this helps you in thinking, or feeling, your way through future shots. Keep your eyes open, look for distracting elements, be aware of composition, be aware of how the scene makes you feel. As David duChemin often writes about, shoot with intention, with purpose, with vision. 

Below are the before and after images:

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