25 replies to this topic

[dspdrew]

Definitely. They should be flying any time now. I've heard some say they fly very early in the morning.

[Foogoo]

Here is a stacked profile shot of same ant.  Are we agreed on Veromessor?  If so, Foogoo, I'll try my best to get you one, but I've no idea when they fly.

 

Thanks! That's a great pic BTW, what microscope are you using? And did you use Helicon to stack the pictures?

[PTAntFan]

Thanks, man!

I use a Sony Nex 5n with a 1:1 lens. I have a ring light attachment without which I couldn't get close enough to the ant with sufficient light to get anything. It's OK, I might do a microscope at some point. My sticks are really wobbly so overall getting the shots aligned and consistent is a hassle. What do they use on Antweb? That's what I want. Ha! Probably an electron microscope.

I used Gimp 2.8 to do the stacking. Ended up only using two shots. It's not bad for my first time doing it.

[dspdrew]

You can get a pretty good microscope for relatively cheap if you get a cheapo brand like AmScope.

 

I got this one for about $450.

 

 

 

Using this, a stage, good lighting, and Helicon Focus, you can get some pretty good pictures.

 

[PTAntFan]

beautiful.  "good lighting"  care to elaborate?

[dspdrew]

Thanks. I just make sure it's lit up as bright and with the whitest light as possible. I don't have very good diffused lighting, because my lighting isn't coming from a diffused flash setup, instead I'm just using the fixed light ring attached to the scope and two other pure white 1650 lumen 100 watt equivalent LED bulbs shining on it from two angles.