Ants

doenoe · Post by **doenoe** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:27 pm

Made this shot when i was observing some ants taking care of their "cows" Its cropped, since i only work with the 105mm macro lens. But i liked it, since you can see the ant drinking some honeydew. Was a first for me to see something like that

Canon EOS 350D, Speedlite 430EX, Lumiquest softbox, ISO100, F14, 1/200

Thanks for looking
Greetz Daan

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:46 pm

Welcome aboard doenoe, first time I have ever seen this too. I know it happens, just that I personally have never observed it. Great shot. The background looks a little blown but that is not uncommon when getting in really close on something sometimes, especially if he background may be light or sunlit at the time. I was sort of puzzled by this, seeing the fast shutter speed and the small aparature. Still a very good first post, glad to have you aboard.

nto · Post by **nto** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:17 pm

doenoe, very beautiful contrast black and light, good shot!!

doenoe · Post by **doenoe** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:56 pm

thanks for the comments and welcomes, im sure im going to learn alot and most likely see some amazing pictures on this site (allready saw some jaw-dropping work)
The ants and aphids were underneath a leave and the background wasnt. I couldnt get my flash in a good position neither, thus the foreground was alot darker then the background.

salden · Post by **salden** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 3:56 pm

This is a great image. A behavior that most do not see. Ants have always been a problem for me. They tend to more too fast for me to catch them.

Neil Fitzgerald · Post by **Neil Fitzgerald** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 1:19 am

Great to see a good macro behaviour shot.

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:57 am

Hi Daan, as it has been said already: Always nice to see a good shot that documents behaviour that well.

Provided that this was taken in Europe, presumably in the Netherlands which one may conclude from your name, then the ant species pictured should be Lasius (Dendrolasius) fuliginosus.

--Betty

doenoe · Post by **doenoe** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:06 am

Thanks for all the kind comments.
I probably could have taken more shots, but dinner was ready and i was allready late. So i was very lucky to get this shot. I went back to the host plant some days later, but it was gone. Havent found another Aphid farm after this.
They werent moving around alot when i took this pic, so it was a bit easier then normal. If an ant is running around looking for food, its rather hard to take a decent pic. Small as they are, they run around pretty fast.
And yes, im from the Netherlands. So you are probably right about the species. I dont know, since i just started with the whole bug identifying thing and ants arent easy to identify....for me at least.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 8:50 am

Fantastic shot there,and welcome to the forum!