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Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted July 7, 2015268 views11 comments

This Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) catterpiller is biting through the stem below the Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) flower. After the flower drooped, it climbed down and ate most of the bloom. That was Sunday's meal. Then it repeated the process on a much smaller bloom yesterday. I assume that this is a behavior that prevents the plant from sending bad tasting chemicals to the injury site just as a Monarch catterpillar will do on Milkweed. This is a 5 shot stack for sharpness on both the flower and the cat. (5D3, 180mm macro + 1.4TE, 1/320s, f/8, iso 400, tripod)

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 7, 2015 at 4:34 PM

Excellent sharpness/DOF, good work combining the 5 shots Mark.

Nice even exposure with this soft light & those highlights add well..

Colors & comp look great, well done! devil

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Breitkreuz on July 7, 2015 at 5:12 PM

Mark, for the first time ever I knew exactly what this plant was after seeing an excellent shot by John Benway recently. His did not seem as large on the flower head area so his covered that area more over and showing the top of it too.

Your take obviously has the very neat addition of the caterpillar. A tip of the hat with regard to working the 5 image stack out so well also. Seems perfect in everyway there. I've yet to venture into that arena to date. Although I've stitched several scenes recently. Sure beats trying to work things out in a darkroom, eh?........ laugh

Registered on February 25, 2006, 525 Posts, 8448 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on July 7, 2015 at 11:19 PM

Outstanding, Mark. Excellent stack to get the CP and entire flower sharp and a very nicely composed image. Like this one very much. devil

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on July 8, 2015 at 12:49 AM

Hey Mark,
This is why you make the 'Big Bucks'
Very impressive image in all respects, one of your best IMHO !
Well done . . . devil

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Ramamohan Pai on July 8, 2015 at 2:28 AM

Mark - This is terrific !! Superb stack - and a stack that is very purposeful.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 550 Posts, 9037 Comments

Comment posted by Yun Gao on July 8, 2015 at 2:37 AM

Mark, I love everything about it! Very nicely done. Congrats! devil

Registered on September 11, 2012, 267 Posts, 1621 Comments

Comment posted by Balan Vinod on July 8, 2015 at 8:55 AM

Mark ....an excellent image ..tack sharp end to end ..and fine bg ..and wonderfully composed ..very well done.

Balan Vinod

Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments

Comment posted by Balakumar Kaushik on July 8, 2015 at 8:12 PM

Oh this is beauuutifullll ! Lovely in everyway - lovely little critter on a beautiful perch. Loved the dash of pink in the flowers. The backlit hairs on stem adds to the image; against a fantastic BG!!!! The stacking has worked great !

Registered on January 4, 2008, 98 Posts, 1403 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on July 14, 2015 at 11:46 PM

Beautiful! Congrats on pulling off the stack; it really was the way to go for the detail and bokeh.

Looking forward to more of this species!

P.S. Thanks for the keen observation of the feeding behavior. I know that swallowtails feed on plants with chemicals that repel other insects, but never noticed the "felling" behavior for harvesting food. Cool!

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on July 15, 2015 at 8:52 PM

Hi Mark. crying Excellent composition, with amazing subjects. you stacking made this image look like real life. very fine work devil