White-marked tussock moth caterpillar - Orgyia leucostigma

This caterpillar has been frustrating me for several years now. Each summer, I try to get a sharp, side profile shot of it, and every year, I fail. This is my best attempt so far, so I decided to post it and will keep trying until I get a clear shot.

Bright red head, yellow middorsal tufts on A1-A4, and a black middorsal stripe that is flanked by yellow subdorsal stripes. It was about 3 cm long.

Spotted in a deciduous forest.

comments (8)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

That is one insane caterpillar, it seems to have combined every possible appendage decoration available, nice!
I can relate to the focusing challenge on such hairy caterpillars, it seems almost impossible to get it right.

Theorizing a bit, and by all means stop me if it's too obvious: On this subject, the closest thing coming towards you would be the longest hair that is pointing in your direction. Ideally, your depth of field starts there. Yet it would be impossible to auto focus on. So this could be a manual focus job where you focus slightly before the main subject. That is doable with some tries, yet now you need to cover a deep depth of field to span the entire subject. I'd say f/16 maybe even, and that requires flash. Or f/11 and take a step back, and then crop back in if the shot is sharp.

The other aspect to consider regarding depth of field is the focal plane. You're in a slightly diagonal angle, which makes the DOF requirement even larger, compared to if you would be at an exact 90 degree angle. You've made the correct artistic choice though regarding the diagonal position, because otherwise the hair surrounding the neck would obscure the head entirely. Posted 7 years ago

Christine Young

Lion

Ferdy, you are awesome :). Thanks for the tips! Do you think using a wide angle lens would be better than macro for this subject? What does it mean to focus before the main subject - focus on the leaf? I like the idea of stepping back, it’s so obvious, but I rarely do it...Yet, I think it might really help for a subject like this. I have a ring flash that I could try using...I have actually never mounted it on the camera, but I use it, kind of like a flashlight, to add extra, soft-ish light when shooting on the ground in dark woods.

These crazy caterpillars are so tricky to shoot! They have every possible kind of setae and hair going in every direction! Posted 7 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Glad to help! A wide angle lens will not really help in this case, because it's not really a problem of angle, it's a problem of focus. A wide angle lens would put the subject much further away because most wide angle lenses cannot focus as close as a macro lens. In theory, on a very high MP camera you could do it that way and crop in deeply, but this is kind of working around the problem. There are special wide angle macros on the market, but they are extremely difficult to handle: the subject would be pretty much in the lens :)
  
  Stepping back very often solves the problem, and you have enough MP to do that. However, this situation is so difficult that even then you may struggle to get the right focal point. So, a better solution indeed is to focus before the subject. In this situation, that little rotten spot of leaf under the head would be a nice helper. If you don't have an anchor point, first focus on the head, and then use the manual focus ring and turn it slightly towards you. This is a counter intuitive thing to do because it will look unsharp in your view finder, but that's not how the photo will turn out. View finders don't show depth of field. So just try, inspect, adjust, try, etc.
  
  I use a simple technique whereby I imagine a top view of the situation, containing angle, focal point, depth of field and how they relate to each other. Such an illustration makes these seemingly complicated mix of variables suddenly very clear and simple. I'll cook you up one of those diagrams for this specific situation. Probably somewhere early next week. Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago

Christine Young

Lion

Thanks again, Ferdy! I can’t wait to try this technique and am going to test it out this week. Posted 7 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  The story of my life is that I plan for a small task and it blows up. But it was fun writing it, I hope it helps:
  https://ferdychristant.com/how-to-photograph-hairy-macro-subjects-68268aa21327 Posted 7 years ago
2. 1. Christine Young
    
    Lion
    
    This is awesome, and you are awesome! Thanks so much. I learned a LOT reading this and can’t wait to try out these new tactics. Thank you, Ferdy! Posted 7 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      I'm happy you found it useful, and you're welcome! Posted 7 years ago
    2. 1. Christine Young
        
        Lion
        
        Yes, definitely :) Posted 7 years ago

The White-marked tussock moth

"Orgyia leucostigma", the White-marked tussock moth, is a moth in the family Lymantriidae. The caterpillar is very common especially in late summer in eastern North America, as far west as Texas, Colorado, and Alberta.

Info 16 0

Similar species: Moths And Butterflies

Species identified by Christine Young