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snic320
Joined: 17 May 2011
Posts: 118
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 Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 5:56 am Post subject: Bullet Ant -Paraponera Clavata- SET |
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Paraponera is a genus of ant consisting of a single species, commonly known as the lesser giant hunting ant,conga ant, or bullet ant (Paraponera clavata), named on account of its powerful and potent sting, which is said to be as painful as being shot with a bullet. It inhabits humid lowland rainforests from Nicaragua south to Paraguay. The bullet ant is called "Hormiga Veinticuatro" or "24 (hour) ant" by the locals, referring to the 24 hours of pain that follow being stung
Paraponera Clavata -Bullet Ant- por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr
Sting
The pain caused by this insect's sting is known to be greater than that of any other Hymenopteran, and is ranked as the most painful according to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, given a "4+" rating, above the tarantula hawk wasp.
Aguijón Close por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr
It is described as causing "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours". It is thought that the ant has evolved this way to ward off any predators who would normally unearth them....a paralyzing neurotoxic peptide isolated from the venom is poneratoxin, it affects voltage-dependent sodium ion channels and blocks the synaptic transmission in the insect central nervous system.
Aguijón por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr
Initiation rites
The Satere-Mawe people of Brazil use intentional bullet ant stings as part of their initiation rites to become a warrior.The ants are first rendered unconscious by submerging them in a natural sedative and then hundreds of them are woven into a glove made out of leaves (which resembles a large oven mitt), stinger facing inward. When the ants regain consciousness, a boy slips the glove onto his hand. The goal of this initiation rite is to keep the glove on for a full ten minutes. When finished, the boy's hand and part of his arm are temporarily paralyzed because of the ant venom, and he may shake uncontrollably for days. The only "protection" provided is a coating of charcoal on the hands, supposedly to confuse the ants and inhibit their stinging. To fully complete the initiation, however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years...
Bullet ant por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr
Bullet Ant por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr
Hope you like it...took special effort to celebrate so many visits to my Flickr account 
2011-12-14-21.08 por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr
***Updated with 2 more pics, another fullbody and the eye detail***
Remember all pics are drastically reduced in size for flickr...
Have Fun!
Last edited by snic320 on Sun Dec 18, 2011 8:18 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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ChrisLilley
Joined: 01 May 2010
Posts: 680
Location: Nice, France (I'm British)
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 7:51 am Post subject: |
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| Excellent photos, made all the more enjoyable by the clearly described and fascinating background information. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain this. Looks like you had a great trip! |
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abpho
Joined: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 1483
Location: Earth
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 5:18 pm Post subject: Re: Bullet Ant ! |
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Awesome shots. What did you use to create the reflection. The last image is pretty cool.
| snic320 wrote: | | ... however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years... |
Can you say CRAZY!! |
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DQE
Joined: 08 Jul 2008
Posts: 1653
Location: near Portland, Maine, USA
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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Amazing photos, and an amazing saga! I especially enjoyed the photos with the reflections.
Well beyond my modest ambition to take some viewable macro photos of the bugs in my home garden!!
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-Phil
"Diffraction never sleeps" |
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phytoplankton
Joined: 28 May 2011
Posts: 37
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| Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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| I can't even think of the proper terms to articulate how much I like this set of photos. I keep coming back just to stare at them, especially the first. |
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Cactusdave
Joined: 09 Jun 2009
Posts: 1631
Location: Bromley, Kent, UK
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| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 3:38 am Post subject: |
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Great photomacrography. Some of those images are mind boggling quality. That is one serious 'don't mess with me' ant. 
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Leitz Ortholux 1, Zeiss standard, Nikon Diaphot inverted, Canon photographic gear |
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snic320
Joined: 17 May 2011
Posts: 118
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| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 6:23 am Post subject: |
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| Cactusdave wrote: | | Great photomacrography. Some of those images are mind boggling quality. That is one serious 'don't mess with me' ant. |
| phytoplankton wrote: | | I can't even think of the proper terms to articulate how much I like this set of photos. I keep coming back just to stare at them, especially the first. |
| DQE wrote: | Amazing photos, and an amazing saga! I especially enjoyed the photos with the reflections.
Well beyond my modest ambition to take some viewable macro photos of the bugs in my home garden!! |
| abpho wrote: | Awesome shots. What did you use to create the reflection. The last image is pretty cool.
| snic320 wrote: | | ... however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years... |
Can you say CRAZY!! |
| ChrisLilley wrote: | | Excellent photos, made all the more enjoyable by the clearly described and fascinating background information. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain this. Looks like you had a great trip! |
Spent some hours with this set so Im really glad you like them!
Wish you all Merry Christmas Macro/Micro nuts out there !!!
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lauriek
Site Admin
Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 2404
Location: South East UK
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larrynicks
Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 7
Location: Nevada, USA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2011 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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Looks like being bitten by this guy would be bad enough, not to mention the sting. 
Excellent images. |
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rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 20649
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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These are amazing images!
I am intrigued by the reflections seen in image #1 and #4. The first one I can understand as the ant sitting on a mirror, the whole thing shot as a focus stack for DOF. But #4 has me puzzled. The reflection looks like rippled water but that's not consistent with focus stacking which also appears to have been done.
Can you explain how these images were shot?
Many thanks,
--Rik |
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dbur
Joined: 16 Apr 2010
Posts: 171
Location: Oregon
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| Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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| #4 looks like a double reflection off both surfaces of a pane of glass. |
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snic320
Joined: 17 May 2011
Posts: 118
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| Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2011 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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| rjlittlefield wrote: | These are amazing images!
I am intrigued by the reflections seen in image #1 and #4. The first one I can understand as the ant sitting on a mirror, the whole thing shot as a focus stack for DOF. But #4 has me puzzled. The reflection looks like rippled water but that's not consistent with focus stacking which also appears to have been done.
Can you explain how these images were shot?
Many thanks,
--Rik |
Yes, sure...
Well, after watching some youtube tutorials about creating water reflections I decided to give it a shot, but mixing things a bit...., instead of creating the reflection totally from the same image, I decided to make the stack with a real reflection using a mirror....
Then the only thing I added was the rippled water effect as you said...creating some sort of small waves with the pinch photoshop tool...that´s it !
In the next picture I also used the mirror but when finished I really didnt find the need to add the waves.....it came out this way!
The Sailor...(amazon ant 6.1) por Nicolas R.B. aka Snic320 Back from the Amazon!, en Flickr
I´m really glad you liked it |
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madmacro
Joined: 19 Aug 2011
Posts: 92
Location: Central Singapore
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| Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 6:32 pm Post subject: Amazing. |
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| Wow very nicely taken, good lighting as well. |
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