Give me a “J”
I have an interesting and perhaps ambitious goal – to photograph caterpillars posing in the shapes of letters of the alphabet. I do not know, yet, whether I want to try to have a consistent background or if I want to go for bright colors and contrasts. I also do not know how possible it will be to successfully wrangle caterpillars into, say, the letter “M”. It is not something I am going to lose sleep over, but I might try posing caterpillars with a paintbrush while I’m photographing them for other purposes.
Since I am studying Acronicta, I will at least be able to get the letter “J” pretty consistently. It is their characteristic resting pose, like this A. rubricoma. I was trying to photograph it against a white background when I realized it made the setae nearly invisible – but on the red paper, wow did the fuzziness pop!
What do you think? Do you think I should try it? Do you think it would work as a poster, sort of like the ones you see with butterfly wing patterns?
Posted on May 30, 2011, in Acronicta, Acronictinae, Invertebrates, Lepidoptera, Noctuidae. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
caterpillarblog 
Sounds pretty challenging. I can’t imagine how you’d get single caterpillars into all the various shapes (could use more than one though). How about looking for patterns on the caterpillars in the shape of letters?
Yeah I was thinking I’d have to use multiple caterpillars – and very gently!
Good idea for looking for letters on their bodies, too. Some definitely have some cool squiggly patterns the more up close you get. Maybe if I take more photos through the scope I can find some good patterns.
I’d be happy just seeing the letters you can find.