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Ant photography thread


1088 replies to this topic

#481 Offline gs5248 - Posted March 3 2021 - 10:40 AM

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I agree!  :)



#482 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 6 2021 - 5:42 AM

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The snow is mostly gone but it’s still cold enough outside that I don’t relish rooting around under stick and stone to shoot any early risers. Yesterday was feeding day so I took another look at my charges. My C. novaeboracensis queen seems to be soldiering on. She lost 4 nanitics over diapause, only 2 remain but she’s guarding a decent clutch of eggs. I hope she can get to 15-20 nanitics by fall. This was hard to shoot. AC’s plastic test tubes scratch easily and scatter light. The combination of high f-stop for greater depth of field with the flash and fill lighting took more Lightroom processing than I usually use. 
 

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The dinner bell is ringing for my C. pennsylvanicus and mama doesn’t want any skinny daughters in this colony!
 
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So, can anyone explain why these sisters are fighting? I watched this ant with her mandibles clamped to her sister’s leg being dragged around their outworld for almost an hour!
 
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Everyone came out for a bite to eat, from my most voracious colony, to my newest C. pennsylvanicus 
 
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and C. americanus, my most timid foragers

 

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#483 Offline ANTdrew - Posted March 6 2021 - 5:53 AM

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Great shots as always! I’ve seen larger formicines do this when they sense something wrong with a sister. It usually means the one getting dragged around is ailing somehow and close to death.
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"The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer." Prov. 30:25
Keep ordinary ants in extraordinary ways.

#484 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 6 2021 - 6:14 AM

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:o Wait, which is the one at risk, the one being dragged or the one doing the dragging?  :thinking: Time for me to take out Hölldobler & Wilson and do some reading!

 

 

Well, that was educational but not necessarily informative on the question at hand. Hölldobler & Wison’s The Ants had sections on aggression but not this specific type of dragging behavior. Dragging (either by the mandible, gaster, or mesosoma) was usually an inter-colony aggressive behavior. When employed as an intra-colony behavior, it was usually part of a more elaborate colony relocation or evacuation. I just found one paper that looked at dragging as an indicator of aggressive colony behavior (specifically removing dead and infected workers from the nest)  https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC3310061/ It suggests the dragger is the one protecting the colony from the diseased one being dragged. In the case of my picture, the aggressor is clamped on the leg of the suspect ant. She’s just doing an exceedingly poor job  :rolleyes:


Edited by ConcordAntman, March 6 2021 - 12:05 PM.

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#485 Offline Skwiggledork - Posted March 9 2021 - 6:50 AM

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First semi- successful attempt at photo/focus stacking.

CKyTFRA.jpg



#486 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 9 2021 - 7:09 AM

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I’m impressed! I’ll have to read up on the technique.  (y)



#487 Offline Ants_Dakota - Posted March 9 2021 - 7:22 AM

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Santa brought me a Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO for a Nikon F-mount but we’ve still got 18” of snow on the ground. Here’s some of my first shots. Unfortunately no new species but I can’t wait to get this outside in the spring! I’ve had this C. pennsylvanicus colony since May 2018. They’ve just been out 10 days and she’s back to laying!

 

aakant, your C. americanus are still soldiering on

 

 

i know americanus are more red up north, but i like that color variation, which is the same we have in the midwest. that mellow yellow is really cool.


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Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. -Proverbs 6: 6-8

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#488 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 13 2021 - 6:40 PM

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My two C. pennsylvanicus colonies are growing by leaps and bounds. My May 2018 colony has eggs, larvae and pupae covering 4 chambers. I’m waiting for my annex nest to be built!

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My June 2020 colony has spread their brood over one of the water towers. 
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My C. novaeboracensis has a pile of eggs but no larvae or pupae as of yet. She’s down to one nanitic, the other one got tangled in a cotton strand and died. The only colony with no brood is my C. americanus but she’s been slow to lay each season. I’ll expect the first eclosures in about 3 weeks.

Feeding day is chaotic but fun. My largest colony now usually has 20-30 workers wandering through the outworld. Without Fluon, it’s tough to clean water and feed them without escapes! I’ve been quickly convinced of the value of a good climbing barrier. My C. pennsylvanicus like crickets 
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but this one loves cricket legs! :lol: 
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#489 Offline M_Ants - Posted March 13 2021 - 7:29 PM

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IMG 5076(2)

 

 


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Veromessor pergandei

Veromessor andrei

Crematogaster sp. 

Pogonomyrmex cf cali and rugosus

Various Pheidole

C. yogi 

https://www.youtube....FG7utFVBA/about


#490 Offline NickAnter - Posted March 13 2021 - 8:02 PM

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Beautiful.


Hi there! I went on a 6 month or so hiatus, in part due, and in part cause of the death of my colonies. 

However, I went back to the Sierras, and restarted my collection, which is now as follows:

Aphaenogaster uinta, Camponotus vicinus, Camponotus modoc, Formica cf. aserva, Formica cf. micropthalma, Formica cf. manni, Formica subpolita, Formica cf. subaenescens, Lasius americanus, Manica invidia, Pogonomyrmex salinus, Pogonomyrmex sp. 1, Solenopsis validiuscula, & Solenopsis sp. 3 (new Sierra variant). 


#491 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 14 2021 - 4:20 AM

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M_Ants, great shot! What is your setup?


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#492 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 16 2021 - 4:37 PM

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Hauling food for the colony 

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Cooperative lifting 

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#493 Offline BugFinder - Posted March 16 2021 - 10:13 PM

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Hauling food for the colony 

 

 

Cooperative lifting 

what did you use to get those photos?


“If an ant carries an object a hundred times its weight, you can carry burdens many times your size.”  ― Matshona Dhliwayo

 

My Journals:

Pogonomyrmex subdentatus

Camponotus Vicinus

Camponotus sansabeanus

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Pogonomyrmex Californicus

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#494 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 17 2021 - 4:43 AM

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Nikon D500 with a SB 700 flash, Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra macro, and a fill light. 1/250th sec, f/22, ISO 560. 



#495 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 23 2021 - 7:23 AM

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From my last feeding session 3 days ago

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#496 Offline Abdul - Posted March 25 2021 - 1:25 AM

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Nylanderia sp. workers with  :) on their gaster.

Any tips for budget macro lens for a newbie?

AFIuWME.jpg

6RDFwYa.jpg
 

6RDFwYa.jpg


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#497 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 25 2021 - 8:13 AM

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What for, phone, DSLR, or mirrorless?



#498 Offline Abdul - Posted March 25 2021 - 6:26 PM

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What for, phone, DSLR, or mirrorless?

Idk which one. DSLR or mirrorless. It's between 200D or M50 mark ii.


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#499 Offline ConcordAntman - Posted March 26 2021 - 10:13 AM

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I shoot Nikon but from what I’ve read Canon has perhaps a wider selection of cameras and lenses for the nature photographer on both a telephoto and macro level. I’m a fan of Alex Wild who shoots Canon. 

https://www.alexanderwild.com/

He regularly posts on his website and in Scientific American. You might check his stuff out for ideas. Also look at his Compound Eye posts in Scientific American. I tried to emulate some of the kit he outlined in the link below with Nikon equipment. 

https://blogs.scient...tography-trade/

I have 2 macros. An AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED and a Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Ultra Macro APO. I find the 100+ mm lenses gives an easier working distance to the insect. I’ve only been shooting macro a bit over 2 years and only marginally knowledgeable. I find the autofocus and vibration reduction a boon in capturing shots though the pros advise otherwise. Wild has an MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro that is his go-to lens but it’s over $1000. There’s no other 1-5x macro that I could find. Even he says to use it properly demands experience and a pretty steep learning curve. The Laowa is an affordable compromise that I’m learning to use (hey the photography bug ain’t cheap). It’s fully manual, focus and aperture, so it is harder to use than my automated Nikon 105mm but it’s sharp and has the potential for 2x magnification. 

Final point, to get reasonable depth of field I find I’m often shooting at a high f-stop so both a fill light and flash are vital. A filter can also help soften the harshness of the lighting. Well, that’s my two cents. 


Edited by ConcordAntman, March 26 2021 - 11:17 AM.

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#500 Offline gs5248 - Posted March 26 2021 - 2:22 PM

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Are those macro lenses you clip onto your phone any good for taking pictures of ants?






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