Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

[Allen Sparks]

Canon Rebel XT, Sigma 150mm f2.8 macro, Tamron Pro SP 1.4 teleconverter, Canon Speedlite 580 EX II flash
ISO 400, f16, 1/200, manual exposure

[Ken Childs]

Hey Allen, a nice shot but it looks a bit dark and flat to me so maybe a contrast boost would help. The head also seems crowded so more canvas on the top and left seems to be in order.

Have you ever poked at one to get it to expose its osmetria? They're pretty neat but boy do they stink!

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Nice image of the caterpillar in action - precisely picking on a thin stem to munch on...
I might sharpen it a bit more and brighten up the head part a bit. Would agree with Ken's suggestion on composition; but I guess you wanted to avoid the rest of the plant on the left...
Thanks for sharing.

[Allen Sparks]

I tried to rework this image given the suggestions above. I upped color saturation, contrast, and sharpening. Let me know what you think. Not sure how I would expand the canvas given the plant stems sticking out the side.

[Ken Childs]

It definitely looks better. If this is the full image, you should have enough pixels to try a portrait crop with just the front half of the caterpillar. It may or may not look better but it's worth a try.

[Julie Kenward]

I liked the OP but the repost is even better, Allen! Nice work on adding a little more room at the left - he doesn't feel so crowded now. I also want to say kudos on your use of flash here because you did an excellent job - I never would have known by the look of the image.

I like the dark BG against the bright colors of the caterpillar and the stem is a wonderful addition to the image. Excellent repost!

[Mike Moats]

Hey Allen, I do think the repost looks much better, little soft on the first one and the critter pops a little better on the second.

[Markus Jais]

Great shot. I like the repost even better.
I like the feeding pose, the calm BG and the sharpness and details in the shot.

Markus

[Nick Palmieri]

Nice capture, nice angle. The re-post pops a lot more than the OP. Nice job.

[Vida van der Walt]

Lovely shot Allen. I like the repost even better and agree that it pops more. Love the pose and colours in this. You could maybe do some nr on the bg.:)