Hiding in plain sight

**Loupey** · 09-26-2006, 05:41 PM

This morning was glorious and I just had to take a brisk walk.

As I passed this scrubby bush (not 2 1/2' tall), my knee almost hit this beautiful caterpillar hiding motionless in plain sight at the top of it. As i began shooting, I noticed that there are 3 more on this little bush. Each is about 3" long. Still cold, they were motionless but eventually started to rouse.

Must admit I stayed much longer than I had anticipated

Here is the bush (I had to stand way back with my 300mm though)

**Loupey** · 09-26-2006, 05:44 PM

...and here are some of the angles I got.

I almost fell backwards into a pond on some of these

I had to include that last one. He looked embarrassed that he ate so much!

Thanks for looking!

**drg** · 09-26-2006, 06:31 PM

I'm jealous. You had perfect light! I saw some of these in the gallery and had to make some sort of comment! I bet you did have to get back aways for the bush shot with that 300!!

Those first three are just about perfect exposures.

Wow.

**Copy_Kot** · 09-26-2006, 07:57 PM

They are all great pictures Loupey, I love the first one in your second post.

**Bevb** · 09-27-2006, 12:31 AM

The detail in these shots are amazing, i found a paletussock caterpillar and thought i would practice with the tubes, i used the 36mm with my 70-200 but i had a nightmare with getting the focus just right! as i really wanted to get the head clear, but it comes out like a blurry blob! as a steady hand is essential!

You make this look easy, il post the caterpillar later for your comments if thats ok.

www.k9imageworld.com
www.bevbarkerphotos.com

**Loupey** · 09-27-2006, 08:05 AM

Drg - yeah I couldn't even use my monopod for these. Imagine me with my legs spread with my feet against two saplings an a bank (so I wouldn't slide in the water). Out of real estate, I'm bending backwards just to make my minimum focusing distance. At the time, I thought even a breeze would send me into the drink

For the high angle shots, I'm on my tip-toes. For the low angle shots, my head is sideways trying to see through the viewfinder. An angle-finder should be on my wish list

Copy - thanks! I was wondering which had more appeal than others. Thanks for the input.

Bev - keep practicing. On your zoom, try one tube with your lens set at 200mm (this is the easiest combo) until you feel comfortable with it. Use at least f/5.6 but preferably around f/11 if you have enough light to get enough shutter speed. Oh, please post your shot.

**Bevb** · 09-27-2006, 12:00 PM

Thanks Loupey for help, il be out tomorrow putting it into practice!
IV posted the Paletussock.

**payn817** · 09-27-2006, 03:29 PM

Very nice Loupey. Do you walk around with magnifying glasses or something?

**Loupey** · 09-27-2006, 05:29 PM

Bev - please post your results tomorrow.

Payn - no but I am generally pretty good at spotting an out-of-place spit of color and any buggy movement. I almost missed these because the lighting was so harsh and they were motionless (at least when I first spotted them).

Thanks again!

**Loupey** · 09-28-2006, 06:53 PM

OK, just finished going through the rest of the files. Originally, I passed these up for one technical problem or another. But I reconsidered due to the subject matter/expression.

Anyway, here they are. A lot of different looks from such a small bush.

Come on - any guesses as to how many images I took that morning? Any takers?

BTW, 300mm on all, fill flash on most, 36mm tube (where you can see the entire body of the caterpillar), 36mm+20mm tube (where you can only see part of the caterpillar).