Amazon - Ants Shredding Hopper

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crotermund
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Amazon - Ants Shredding Hopper

Post by crotermund »

These ants were very aggressive and were moving quickly as they were pulling in 3 different directions.


Image
Craig Rotermund
Canon 30D
Sigma 150mm

beetleman
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Post by beetleman »

They leave no chance for that bug. Amazing heads on these ants and the eyes are wicked cool. Very nice capture Craig :wink:
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

Bruce Williams
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Post by Bruce Williams »

Super action shot, full of energy and interest. Nicely lit with good colour and texture.

Good one Craig!

Bruce,

Mike B in OKlahoma
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Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! LOVE IT! :!: :!: :!:

Very good job.

Is this the full frame? The ants are HUGE!
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

crotermund
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Post by crotermund »

Thanks a lot guys. I was worried about things being a little too dark, Bruce. It was late in the day and I didn't have a lot of light left. Mike, it is unfortunately cropped quite a bit. These guys were moving at a frenetic pace, tugging in opposite directions like lions on a fresh zebra kill so I didn't get as close as I would have liked. :wink: :)
Craig Rotermund
Canon 30D
Sigma 150mm

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

crotermund wrote:...it is unfortunately cropped quite a bit.
I think I'm missing something here.

At least at this resolution, I don't see any ill effects from the cropping.

And shooting with a wider field meant that your odds of getting the shot at all went up by quite a bit.

So it looks to me like shooting wide and cropping later was a wise technique to get a great action shot. (Nice pic! :D )

In what sense is the crop unfortunate? :?

--Rik

Planapo
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Post by Planapo »

Craig, really a very nice shot, and thanks for sharing! It´s one of my favorite ants (Though, I have to admit to have many 8) )

The picture shows foraging workers (the worker caste is polymorphic in these ants) of the arboreal genus Daceton Perty 1833. The species could be D. armigerum (Latreille 1802).

(Keep in mind that taxonomy is constantly changing and there seems to be more than one Daceton species)

I myself haven´t encountered Daceton alive and in the wild yet, but have seen it in (scientific) samples from ants of Central Amazonia, which I had under the stereoscope recently.

I´m looking forward to see it alive in it´s natural habitat once. Let us hope and do everything we can to save as much as possible of our natural world, as in this case the tropical forests. There are so many precious and gorgeous forms of life on our planet, we shouldn´t tolerate to loose more and more of them.

Kind regards,
Betty

beetleman
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Post by beetleman »

I second that Planapo :smt023
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

crotermund
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Post by crotermund »

Rik - Perhaps "unfortunately cropped quite a bit" was a poor choice of words in response to Mike asking if they were "Full Frame". I am happy that there wasn't any noticable degradation with the crop. I would have loved to claim Full Frame on such a shot, but I am not disappointed with it. Thanks for pointing that out. I really appreciate it. :D

Betty - I hope you do get the opportunity to see these guys in the wild. They are fascinating to watch. Of course, if you make it to the Amazon you will find plenty of things that are fascinating. :wink:
Craig Rotermund
Canon 30D
Sigma 150mm

crotermund
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Post by crotermund »

One more thing. Thanks for the ID, Betty. Identifying the species on the insects we shot in the Amazon is extremely difficult. If you ever track down the "Comprehensive guide to all the Insects in the Amazon" please let me know. :lol: :wink:
Craig Rotermund
Canon 30D
Sigma 150mm

Moebius
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Post by Moebius »

It seems that on some other forums, shots that are not full framed are looked down upon...as if not composing the shot correctly in the first place is a mar on the photograph as a whole. I remember a link to a discussion between our own Tom Webster and Tom Hicks at fredmiranda.com on this very subject about a year or more ago. Anyone have that link? I remember in short that our Tom Webster defended crops and Tom Hicks was against it...very interesting read.

I hope to have the talent and ability to be able to get the composition right on the first attempt with no cropping. True, heavy cropping and subsequent enlarging reduces the overall quality of the pic, but I see nothing wrong with slight crops at all. I guess I am not a purist. Even heavy crops, if it will create a pic where otherwise none would exist, is completely acceptable in my book.

Ken Nelson

Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

An outstanding photograph. Looks almost like something out of science fiction. These ants really have a set of jaws it looks like, would like to have something like this to my credit, the photograph that is, not the jaws :lol: . Great work :D

jorgemotalmeida
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Post by jorgemotalmeida »

AMAZING SHOT, for the beauties of these Daceton and for the quality of the photo!


Well, I must say: I will be away from some weeks here.



bye.
Jorge Almeida
Viseu - PORTUGAL
http://www.flickr.com/photos/superegnum

Gunn
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Location: adelaide, south australia

Post by Gunn »

lovely shot craig. very neat and sweet. i love the way you must have controlled the lighting. don't see any offensive burnouts, only creamy, smooth brown sugar.

best regards
gunn

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