Ellen Mondschein
August 2026 - Black Swallowtail Caterpillar
Original
About the Image(s)
I photographed this caterpillar in July, but found the background very distracting and crowded. This is my initial attempt at editing it while trying to still keep some of the background. I increased the blur, sharpness and contrast, removed objects and cropped the photo in Lightroom.
I used an Olympus OM1 with a 40-150mm lens. Handheld ISO 640 F10 150mm S1/250
6 comments posted
I think you made the right edit, this one looks a little cleaner than your original. Posted: 08/01/2026 12:51:11
Thank you. I was trying for a balance of removing some not all of the cluttered background so there still was some element of realism. Would have been easier had the caterpillars not defoliated the host plant so much. Posted: 08/01/2026 13:54:15
Ellen, I think you did an excellent job capturing this little critter. I like your idea of retaining some of the background, but I think I would still remove the little stem right behind its head. Your background blur is well done, by the way. Posted: 08/06/2026 21:07:26
this is a good capture; you did a good job to remove most of background. Posted: 08/07/2026 23:11:03
I agreed that cleaning up the background is good as a whole. Posted: 08/10/2026 15:06:58
This is a great photo of the caterpillar. I feel that the the background edit need a little more blending to remove the sharp boundaries on the cloning
Nice critter. Posted: 08/25/2026 14:39:36
Nice critter. Posted: 08/25/2026 14:39:36