Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
It was the first time I’ve seen the White-Lined Sphinx. Some people call it the Hummingbird Moth because it looks and acts like a Hummingbird. It was so cool seeing it fly and hover over these flowers feeding.
Hum, I don’t know what’s happening but my images look soft in WP lately. Sigh. Any ideas?
I had company last week-end then we went over the mountains to see the boys, Baby Girl, and The Handsome Surveyor for a couple of days so I am behind, but I’ll catch up with you in a tick!
I hope you all have a wonderful week-end!
Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| PS CC 22.4.3
more to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
Oh! Just yesterday my visiting uncle returned from his walk and proclaimed that he saw a hummingbird sip nectar and I laughed because I have never seen a hummingbird in my life and it would be more than cool to have one in my backyard. Alas, he probably saw one of these moths… No photo though.
Either way it would be cool to see. Really, you’ve never seen a Hummingbird? They aren’t there? I’m going to have to look that up. I don’t see them as often here in Nevada like I did in Calif. So, I am not taking them for granted lemme tell ya!!
I have googled it and they are native to the Americas, from Alaska to Terra del Fuego.
Amazing photos, Deborah. I didn’t get a good look at it (other than the light brown color), but I’m wondering if that isn’t the kind of critter I saw the other day. For a second I thought it was a humming bird, because it was nearly that size… just not quite. Then I realized it was an insect.
Hugs on the wing.
Thank you, Teagan, Oh how cool, you very well may have seen the White-lined Sphinx! Hugs!
I didn’t notice any markings on it though… But then again, when I realized it was not a humming bird, my next thought was “Hornet, RUN!” LOL. Despite that, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t any sort of bee.
LOL! Next time you spot something like that you’ll probably not run away as fast and check it out a little more first. Then run if it’s a Hornet! 😂
Good One.
🙏🏻 thank you!
These are each lovely compositions, Deborah! Tsk, tsk on the damselflies….hehe 😉
LOL! Yes, I caught them at it, but, I love the heart shape they made. 🥰 Thank you so much, Donna!
Me too…. 🥰
I have always loved dragonflies but after seeing my very first hummingbird moth a week ago, I believe it may have taken first place. 🙂
It’s really cool isn’t it! It’s definitely special, and I think so rarely seen that it will stay special in my heart as well.
I hope we both get to see one again someday!
I love that we both saw one this month and close to the same time, but in totally different areas of the country. Kismet!! 🥰
A nice collection … and another side of summer. Those moths sure do look like hummingbirds when you see them hovering around flowers!
Thank you so much, Denise! They’re even close to the same size of Hummingbirds! It was pretty neat to see one.
I think the images look terrific, not soft. Because the wings of the hummingbird moth are fluttering at such a high speed, it’s remarkable that you were able to capture it with such clarity. Of course WP is always changing things without telling the user. I hope your family and company visits were fun!
Thank you so much, Jennie! We had a lovely visit with the boys, and family. It went by too fast! 😀
You’re welcome, Deborah. Those visits are always too fast. 🙂
They are! 🥰
WordPress often dulls down the color/contrast in my photographs. I wonder if the softness you mentioned is part of the same process, which I assume WordPress applies as way to shrink file size and reduce storage space.
I resize my images for the web you’d think the program would know that and not apply the same algorithm to those, but I guess it’s not that sophisticated yet?
For a while my images looked too crispy in WP, so I lowered the amount of sharpening I applied…perhaps I need to apply a slightly higher amount? I’m going to experiment a bit and see what the outcome of that is.
Lovely macros Deborah, we never see insects like this over here. WP are always changing things without telling us, they are full frustrating surprises, as I have found lately. Not sure about your image quality though, maybe try using .png instead of .jpg see if it helps.
Thank you, Ashley!!
I’m going to ask He-Man to help me with today. We talked a little about last night so, he’s already got an idea of the problem I’m having.
Nice set, Deborah!
Thank you so much, Belinda! 😀
We have dragonflies around here but not damsel flies. As for your photo of a hummingbird moth, I’ve read about them but never known anyone who has actually seen one. Well done
Thank you so much, Ally! It was really cool seeing it. My girlfriend knew what it was straight-away, but I had no idea. You’ll be seeing more of my images of it in the future I’m sure. 😀
These are lovely photos, Deborah. Given how many photography blogs WP has, I don’t know why they would mess with the image quality. But, then again, trying to figure out why they do what they do gives me a headache. Maybe they want you to upload higher quality images do you have to buy more space.
Inn my case, I hope you have a great weekend. If you see something that’s new to you, most likely it’s new to me 🙂
Hi Dan
When I first noticed my image quality decreasing I questioned the wp ‘Happiness engineers’ as to what was happening. Their answer was they lowered the compression ratio to make it easier for people to upload on modern devices. When asked what I could do to return my compression ratio to it’s original they said I would have to switch to their ‘Business Plan’ at £17 a month!!! just so I can install a plug-in. The phrase ‘rip off’ comes to mind.
Given that “modern” devices run on networks that are much faster than in the past, I don’t understand their logic. Then again, I don’t understand why they don’t give more storage with the first tier paid plan, or offer an option to purchase more storage. The tiers are 3gb, 13gb and unlimited. It makes no sense unless your the one collecting the fees.
Thank you so much, Dan! I’m going to ask He-Man for his input and help with this and also have him read Brian’s comment. I hope he can help me figure it out.
I just had him doing another thing with the VPN for me so I’m going to wait a bit before hitting him up with this issue. 😂
I hope you have a great week-end too! Mine will be laid back since we’re just home now from Baby Girl’s. 😀
I know you will enjoy that, but I’ll still send good wishes.
Thanks! 😀
Wow, Deborah! Exquisite photos! A ‘Hummingbird Moth’ is new to me. Interesting how the photos ‘change’ in WP. I have found this more and more on sharing sites. Still beautiful, Deborah!❤️
Thank you so much, Erica!! It was so cool to see it and really it does act like a Hummingbird!
I’m going to look into the compression ratio that both Brian and John mentioned and see if my resizing of my images has to change.
I hope it’s something simple!
Great photos, Deborah. I think WP went to a different compression ratio to save memory. I have been reducing my GB photos down to KB’s (using the size reduction feature in Preview) since it doesn’t seem to matter how sharp they are. Also, I’m almost out of memory on my site so a 2 to 3 GB photo puts me nearer the edge.
Thank you so much, John!
I’ve always reduced my images to 1200 pixels on the longest side, and they’ve looked the same on WP as on my computer screen until recently. So far I’ve still got a good bit of memory left so size hasn’t been an issue but, now how they look is! I’ll have to look into this compression ratio thing for sure.
Yeah, give it a look.
Great capture of the moth it looks like an orchestra conductor! That’s one fast shutter speed.
Don’t get me started on images looking soft. wp upped the compression ratio sometime back, I have to put mine on at the highest mb I can (usually 6 or 7mb after converting to jpeg, they start of at 24mb in raw) and they still lose that edge and use a lot of gb. On your theme you might be able to up the compression ratio. If you type into google or whoever “How to increase compression in wordpress blogs” there is a step by step guide. Sadly on my theme ‘Orvis’ I’m unable to do this and my only option is to go for a hugely expensive plan upgrade and install a plug-in.
Good luck! B
Thank you so much, Brian!! I’ll ask He-Man to help me look for this compression ratio topic. I’m useless with that stuff. I hope my workflow doesn’t need to change much because I’ve got actions set up to make my processing of and resizing images pretty easy.
I enjoyed all your photos, Deborah, and the title was fun. I loved hearing about your first encounter with a hummingbird moth, was very excited for you. I’ve only seen this curious species twice, and I remember both times because it was so special. Great that you got a photo!
Thank you so much, Jet! I photographed it for a long time and have lots of different images of it. It wasn’t bothered by my friend or my presence thankfully!
No doubt you’ll see some of those this winter when I run of fresh things to post. It was so neat to see it! Quite special I thought. 😀
Wonderful pictures!
Thank you so much, Pit!
You’re welcome.
😀