I was not planning on doing insect macro photography after work today. After work I went out on the back deck, to water plants and enjoy what daylight we still have as we move into fall. On the deck we have two large pots of chrysanthemums, which are in full bloom. I suddenly noticed a female katydid that had emerged from its prior exoskeleton, as part of its growth:

The katydid was essentially immobile, hanging from its old skeleton. Katydids, and all other orthopterans, have an external skeleton. As they grow, at several time points, that exoskeleton splits, and the larger insect emerges: Over the space of a hours, the helpless insect hardens its new exoskeleton that it will grow into. In the picture above, note the soft, poorly expanded wings on the green katydid. Its legs are hanging onto its former skeleton as it hangs suspended. If you look closely at that exoskeleton, you can see the two eyes at the center of the brown structure, and the remnants of the two antennae (brown as opposed to free).

Another view, staring right into the face of the now emerged katydid, along with a look at the face of its former self.

This emerging katydid was a female: note the red structure emerging from the rear of the insect. This is the ovipositor, which she will use to lay eggs, that can then survive the winter and provide the start for a new generation.

This whole process went on for more than three hours - at least - since I am not sure how long this had been going on before I found this. When I went out to check it periodically, I noticed that the emerged katydid was beginning to become somewhat more active, and it was starting to eat the exoskeleton that it had just shed. In the picture below, she is beginning to eat her way through the legs...

And after three hours, the process of recycling the exoskeleton was virtually complete, except for two residual pieces of the legs. 

And an hour later, four hours after I found her, she was sitting and moving actively atop another flower.