Tomato Hornworm with parasites

[Keith Kennedy]

This tomato hornworm caterpillar, covered with the egg sacs of a very small Braconid wasp (Apanteles), was found in a neighbor's tomato garden. I used a 'plamp' to move the vine for an unclutered background (the lawn). However, the lack of contrast between the greens of the subject and the background may be a negative. Any thoughts on this?

Canon EOS 1D Mark III; Canon 180mm f3.5 macro + Canon extension tube EF 25; exposure mode = AV; metering = evaluative; ISO 400; f11; 1/100s; exposure comp +1; Gitzo tripod.

[Gus Cobos]

Hey Keith,
I like the composition, very original. I would try to tone down the whites; they look a little on the hot side...:cool:

[Julie Kenward]

Keith, great detail on this insect! You did a very nice job on composition and focus.

I do think it's a bit much with all the neon green, though (totally my personal preference). I selected the BG and opened a hue/saturation layer and moved the hue to the right a bit to darken up the background and then slid the lightness slider to the left to tone it all down.

I then reselected the BG and inverted it so the insect and eggs were chosen and I opened a levels layer and pulled the midtone slider down to the right just a bit to cut through some of that white glare.

It's a nice image as presented but I think this puts a little more emphasis on the insect instead of on the neon green BG.

[Robert O'Toole]

Wow a big fresh green all you can eat buffet! And its free :D Wait, is it a veg buffet since its just made of chewed up leaves? :)

I like the subject alot, the image sharpness. lighting and the BG is fantastic.

But.... the processing problems do hurt the image. I can see some artifacts in the BG and the greens and whites are too bright. I like Julies repost, but I think the whites are much better but still a little too bright. Made a selection and used a multiply blend mode layer to bring out more detail.

When I opened the image there were 2 color sample tags on the image. If you ever need to remoce them, grab the " I " tool then press shift+alt+click to remove them.

Wait a minute. Now when i look at the OP, the greens are not that electric as they were when viewed in PS. So I dont mind the original so much now when viewed in firefox. Now I think my repost is to dark.
So here is a new 2nd version.
Multiply layer.
Less yellow sat.
NR on yellows for the clipping/noise in the BG.

Robert

Robert

[Keith Kennedy]

Robert, thanks for the suggestion.I must apologize because the image that appears on BPN looks nothing like what I thought I was uploading. Not sure what I did but it looks terrible. I did a preview but it looked better that what now appears in my post. Your comment about the 2 color tags makes me think I somehow did something that created this mess. Sorry about that. However, your tips are most helpful.

Keith

[Robert O'Toole]

I know how you feel Keith I think we have all done that before..

Robert

[Anita Rakestraw]

What an image, I've never seen such a thing before!! Very cool! I could live with any of the versions, they all look fine on my monitor, altho I do like the added contrast in Julie's version.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Have never seen one like this before. A lovely image; tack sharp; wud agree with whites being a bit too bright.
I guess this caterpillar wud die eventually before becoming a butterfly/moth...?

[Mike Moats]

Hey Keith, really like the image, excellent details, light and BG. Well done.

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

Wow, nice shot, I also like the reworks.. I have had a go at Julie and Robert's suggestion but I have still got some learning to do!

Jon