I worked as a biologist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for 30 years and retired in 2004. I have always been interested in the natural history, identity and role of the animals, plants, fungi, lichens, mosses, birds, butterflies, moths, etc. I have been doing some photography for many years, but I have really been busy with the new digital photography since I retired. I've been adding some of my Photos at Flickr.com and will continue to add more as time goes on. I just started trying to get moth photos last summer. Most of the moth photos are taken at night after being attracted to lights in my yard or in the field. I use a dezapped bug-zapper, a small fluorescent shop light and a black light next to a sheet, which altogether draw about 75 watts. In the field I use a deep cycle battery and an inverter to give ac. Seems to work pretty well and is not expensive.

I'm currently using a Nikon D70 with a 105mm or 200mm macro lens. I almost always use a flash without a tripod which helps stop any hand tremor and gives more mobility. I now do nearly all my photos in the RAW mode, which gives me much more control on how the photos look. I process the photos in Adobe Camera Raw, adjusting exposure, black and white points, brightness, and cropping as needed. I then process the adjusted RAW photos via an Action in PhotoshopCS2 where the image is resized, dpi set, and sharpened. For most of my photos I don't do any manipulation or enhancement. I'm doing what a digital camera does internally if you shoot jpg's, but I can control the process more. If I get a decent photo to begin with, I don't have to do much. I can always go back to the original RAW photo and "redo" it without ever harming the original.

I thank Gary Anweiler, Lars Crabo, Paul Hammond, Chris Schmidt, Jon Shepard, Jim Vargo, and many of the folks at BugGuide.Net for identifications and corrections.