Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar

[Marina Scarr]

Photographing this little creature was a whole new experience for me. These caterpillars go through 3 stages: green, orange and brown. This photograph was taken in a glass case , and these were the only caterpillars which we were asked not to handle. This is about 25% of full frame. Wasn't really sure how to crop it since it was a bit awkward to begin with so any ideas would be most appreciated. I also wonder what is glistening in the caterpillar's mouth?


Canon 1D4, Canon 70-200l F4 IS & tubes
F8, 1/250th, ISO 400, manual mode
Off camera Flash @ ? & Handheld

C & C always welcomed and much appreciated.

Marina Scarr
Florida Master Naturalist
www.marinascarrphotography.com (http://www.marinascarrphotography.com)


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[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Marina, these critters are so amazing and funny to look at. I see it's mimicry even fooled you. What you describe as the mouth, is actually just a black spot. It's actual head is not visible in your photo, it is located below the yellow line. In this link you can see how it works: http://www.images.ca/Cossey/Portraits%20of%20Invertebrates/pages/Butterfly%20Swallowtail%20Spicebush%20larva.htm. Judging from the image in the link, what you see glistening is just a light reflection from the structures in the black spot.
I would have liked to see a tiny bit more DOF (the two orange spots are already a bit soft) and maybe a bit of a closer crop.

[PRABIR BHATTACHARYYA]

Hi Marina! I have seen this once in the open, but never knew it actually looked like this from close. Though its a bit soft, may be because of the crop, I liked the presentation.
Jerry, thanks to you for the link. It has wonderful images.

[Marina Scarr]

Hi Marina, these critters are so amazing and funny to look at. I see it's mimicry even fooled you. What you describe as the mouth, is actually just a black spot. It's actual head is not visible in your photo, it is located below the yellow line. In this link you can see how it works: http://www.images.ca/Cossey/Portraits%20of%20Invertebrates/pages/Butterfly%20Swallowtail%20Spicebush%20larva.htm. Judging from the image in the link, what you see glistening is just a light reflection from the structures in the black spot.
I would have liked to see a tiny bit more DOF (the two orange spots are already a bit soft) and maybe a bit of a closer crop.

Jerry, thanks so much for the info and that link. That is so cool!!! Love learning new facts about the creatures I photograph. Next time I photograph these caterpillars in the box so to speak, I will be more prepared and I will take all of the advice given to me in this forum into serious consideration.

Thank you all.

[Tim King]

Beautiful deep greens in this one. Great all-round photo.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Marina. What a cool example of mimicry! You did well considering the restrictions you were working with. The crop works for me though I would prefer more DOF (having said that, you did nail the focus on the false "head" which makes it really stand out). Because you were using flash, you could have tried f/16 which would get more of the caterpillar in focus. If the caterpillar was being cooperative, you might also have experimented with a variety of f/stops to see which you like best. (I expect that none of this is news to you, but in the heat of the moment we - or at least I - can forget to explore all the possibilities.) :S3: Keep up the good work - you're doing great at macro!

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Marina, very nice macro and I can only echo the suggestions made above. Nicely done overall and I like the crop you chose.

Allen

[Norm Dulak]

You've got to like this, and thanks to everyone for the further explanations of what this image means.

[Bob Miller]

Hi Marina...This image works for me. I like the composition using the curling leaf....to me the dof is fine as the head looks sharp on my monitor. You might consider cloning out the reflection behind this guy as it is distracting at least to me.

[bhavya joshi]

This species always fascinate me... beautiful image and compo.. DOF works very well.. this image works out well for me..

[Ken Childs]

Marina, these cats and others like them are amazing predator mimics! The last thing a bird or other predator wants to see is a pair of large eyes staring back at them....A SNAKE!

I like the comp but if this were mine, I'd take a very small slice of the top. A little bit more DOF would also be nice but I do like this a lot as is.

Here's an interesting PDF written by one of my butterfly contacts on the subject of false predator eyes on caterpillars.
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/06/08/0912122107.full.pdf

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Composition and dof works for me and I do like the "all green"look.