I am BRAND new to moth attracting/trapping and I have a question.
I’m a photographer so I have a soft box I use for lighting; would this work if placed outside for attracting them? It’s fairly bright and has a zip around cover on it, so the insects would be protected from any warmth the bulb may give off and might give them something to cling to when landing.
Hey @matthew_bonn! Welcome to the forum.
I’m by no means experienced in this, and others will be able to provide much better insights, but after some searching, I think I can give a reasonable response. I’ve just started using hyperlinks; you can click on them if you want to look more into what I mention, and I recommend it as I am just a guy who likes looking at bugs, lol.
Using your softbox is a clever idea, and it will work to attract some moths, but it has a few limitations because of how insect vision works. [1, 2]
How the Softbox Will Perform (I think?)
If you want to try this out tonight without buying new equipment, or if you want to modify your rig for maximum efficiency, you could try this. (Again, take what I say with a grain of salt, look into what I’m saying, and see what others may say; I just do this stuff for fun.)
1. Swap the Bulb
If your softbox uses a standard E26/E27 screw-in socket (common in continuous lighting kits), do not use your studio bulb. Instead, temporarily swap it out for a CFL Blacklight bulb or a 365nm UV LED bulb. This gives you the best of both worlds: the perfect insect-attracting wavelength inside a ready-made landing structure. [1, 2, 3, 4]
2. Try and remove the Diffusion Panel
Take off the front white translucent sheet. Leave the bulb exposed so its direct rays can radiate outward into the night sky. The silver reflective interior of the softbox acts like a giant flashlight, throwing a powerful directional beam into nearby trees. [1, 2, 3]
3. Protect Your Gear from Moisture (learned my lesson)
Be very careful leaving studio gear outside overnight. Dew and sudden rain can ruin photography electronics or shatter hot non-LED bulbs.
4. The Traditional “Photo Sheet” Alternative
Instead of risking your softbox outside, many entomologist-photographers simply hang a standard white bedsheet over a stand or clothesline and point a bright light or a UV flashlight directly at it. It gives you a flat, clean background that is much easier to shoot macro photos against!
My suggestion is to get a UV light that you can hang in front of a sheet. Moths are attracted to cool colors, especially violet and ultraviolet light. I use a 15 watt UV fluorescent light and get decent results. The white sheet both reflects the light and gives the moths a place to land. If you’ve got the money for it, the next step up from a regular UV light is the LepiLED, which is designed to emit the precise wavelengths of light that moths are attracted to, and it brings in a lot more than a regular bulb. It’s like $500 though, so most people don’t have the money for it. If you’re handy, you can also build light setups using other types of bulbs. My go-to is a set of 175 watt MV lights that I cobbled together from the parts of some dusk-to-dawn light fixtures. Basically any light will bring in something, and every moth person will have their own opinion about which specific bulb is best. The key is to get whatever light you choose and hang it in front of a white sheet facing toward the good moth habitat.
This is a way better and concise version of what I was saying 
After reading this my message looks way overkill lol
Do black lights work? I found some 15W LED UV bulbs.
That will work great! It is a good wavelength as moths see ultraviolet light much better than visible light. Standard bulbs waste energy creating light humans can see, but a UV bulb focuses its energy on the wavelengths that trigger a moth’s navigation instincts. A 15W LED bulb uses very little electricity but punches well above its weight class. In terms of UV output, a 15W LED is roughly equivalent to an old 40W–60W fluorescent blacklight tube. Also it will work fine with your set-up LEDs produce almost zero heat. You should be able to safely run it inside your zipped-up softbox without melting the fabric or injuring the insects when they land on it.
Over the past ten years I’ve used a variety of different set-ups and experimented with many different types of lights. My usual set-up is a queen size cotton sheet clothes-pinned to a rope tied between two trees or poles, with my lights either hanging on another rope about a foot away or attached to a tripod. For a good portable set-up I use a portable clothes rack similar to this and clothes-pin a twin sheet to it. https://www.target.com/p/adjustable-single-rod-garment-rack-brightroom-8482/-/A-93145402
As others have mentioned, any light that puts out UV wavelengths will work well for attracting moths. I use a fluorescent black light tube that was $12 at Walmart. I also use fluorescent light bulbs for bug zapper (they put off a lighter bluish light compared to the deep purple of a black light) They make ones that can screw in a standard light socket. I like to use a combination of the two along with a bright light such a mercury vapor, or a large incandescent bulb (I’ve also tried white LEDs, but they are not effective.) LED blacklights work well, although the ones I’ve tried don’t seem to be quite as effective as fluorescent tubes.
The best light for attracting moths in my opinion is a 175 watt Mercury Vapor Bulb, but I would not recommend one for beginners since mine was $150 for the ballast, socket, cord, housing, and other parts, and I had to wire it together myself. There are self-ballasted MV bulbs that are cheaper and screw into a regular light socket, but they are getting hard to find.
How important is the “good moth habitat”? I would love to try this, but my apartment faces another set of apartments. I could possibly set it up facing the parking lot of the gas station next door.
I’ve been thinking about this because the parks near me are doing moth nights this week, but none of them are convenient for me to get to after dark.
While we’re at it, I would appreciate any tips on how not to irritate my neighbors.
You’ll get some sort of moth even if the habitat isn’t great. If you see pictures online of sheets covered in hundreds of big colorful moths, that’s the sort of thing you can only get in really ideal habitat. But even in a mowed lawn, you’re bound to get something. Since it looks like you’re from the midwestern USA, I’d expect even a manicured lawn should have grass feeders like Fissicrambus mutabilis, Parapediasia teterella, Acrolophus popeanella, and Pediasia trisecta, as well as herbaceous generalists like Lacinipolia renigera and Apantesis phalerata, and clover feeders like Coleophora mayrella. Plus some moths really get around a lot, so things like Helicoverpa zea, Plutella xylostella, and Noctua pronuba may wander in from elsewhere due to their abundance and tendency to travel. If you have any native trees growing nearby, you can add in a handful of additional species coming in from there.
If you’re in a spot with lots of buildings nearby, honestly the biggest consideration is whether your light will be “competing” with the building lights. The reason you can get a bunch of moths at a single bulb in the woods but you don’t see nearly as many moths at a light in a big parking lot is that the moths attracted to parking lot lights are spread out over an acre or more of space covered in dozens of bulbs. The more lights there are, the more the moths spread out and fail to congregate around a single one. For moth events, it’s best practice to turn off as many lights as possible within view of the moth sheet, so the moths all focus in on one place. If the gas station next door has its own lights on all night, a moth sheet facing it might not bring much in.
If there are any parks/forests/management areas nearby that are open after dark, you can always park somewhere, hang the sheet on the side of your car, put the light in front of it, and see what comes in there. Of course this is easier to do in some regions than others (for example, in most of Wyoming you can wander out onto public land at night and set up a moth light with no special permission and no one will care, but try the same thing in Massachusetts without written permission and you’ll probably be arrested.)
Thanks for all the tips! I made a vague effort last night and very quickly worked out that this is going to be a problem in my location. However, perhaps I might at least get something, but I gave up very quickly after discovering that wasps were nesting in my porch light.
Given that there are a lot of other light sources, is there any benefit to adding something like a small blacklight, or is that just going to be drowned out by all the competition?