Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillar head shot

I got to watch this Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillar much its way through several Queen Anne’s Lace bloom heads in my backyard last month. It ate an amazing amount of flower as it more than doubled in size. This close up was taken on a morning with lots of dew. A 28 shot stack to get most of the seed head, dew drops and caterpillar sharp, deliberately letting the corner stay soft. (7D2, 180mm macro, 1/125 s, f/8, iso 1600, tripod and cable release)

4 Likes

What a great close up of the action, so to speak. Caterpillars certainly are eating machines. This one will probably go into a chrysalis soon. The colors are so smooth and silky and the body of the critter contrasts well with the spikey-er quality of the dewy flowers. Beautiful job.

Wow, Mark, that is an “in your face” shot of a Swallowtail Caterpillar! I was thinking this morning of uploading a few images if I get them edited, of a Swallowtail Caterpillar in our flower garden, but I have nothing like this to contribute. I am thrilled though that we have at least 4 in our garden on some parsley plants we have mixed into the flowers for them.

Such wonderful details in his face, and then the dew drops on the flower that he is feeding off of, I am just amazed. Got to try to get some time to learn stacking, I guess. Great shot! :+1: :+1:

1 Like

Hi Mark,

No nits from me. I like the sharpness and that the secondary setae are visible on the caterpillar. The comp is tight, but everything fits perfectly. Awesome…Jim

Beautiful capture, Mark! I hope you get to see it through all the stages! That would be really neat!

Outstanding, Mark, as others have said, this is just awesome!

Nice shot Mark. I never thought of zooming down to the head. Great macro, especially the dew.
Wayne

Shirley, best of luck with your four. Two years ago I had 11 on one very large Queen Anne’s Lace plant, none of them got big enough to pupate!

2 Likes

Hi Mark, terrific close up showing this caterpillar at work. Really highlights how they make a meal of those flowers. well done.

This is a great action shot. Especially like the gesture he makes while grabbing onto the plant part he is about to eat. Really great stack.

If I were to suggest anything consider cloning out the piece of litter on one of the black bands on the head (I find it a bit distracting). You could also try to lighten the eyes a bit to make them stand out more, but this is all massive nitpicking on a really nice image. Stunning work!

Mark: I love watching these guys eat when they get this size. Of course what comes in must go out and as fast as they eat they seem to eliminate just as quickly. Our patio beneath our parsley, passion vines and milkweed is littered with caterpillar poop that I have to wash off almost every day. Small price to pay to have these critters around. Terrific capture and a marvelous stack.>=))>