one of the first stacks: Lasius flavus ant

Rollin · Post by **Rollin** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:00 am

Dear group,

First of all, I wish to thank you all for the terrific information on this forum. It has helped me a lot with the start of my new project.
Let me start with an introduction. I'm Rollin, a professional wildlife photographer of Belgium. I run a small stock agency. I like to picture stuff the others don't cover, so I'm into bats, spiders, fish, underwater, mice, ...
Macro beyond 1:1 has been on my todo list since years, and this week I finally made the jump. Some time ago I got a Zeiss luminar 40mm on ebay. I started with a dead ladybug, tackled an aphid and some eggs of butterflies. I made some mistakes, tested CombineZm and Zerene stacker (my compliments to Rick for that program!).

After 5 tests I was confident enough to try a live (sedated) ant. This is the result.

Now, some questions. As I'm new in this kind of photography, can anyone tell me if I made some mistakes? Things you see on the picture that are not allright?

Second question, I discovered this site after buying the Luminar, but now I read in several topics the luminars are not that great (that is, they are great on large format camera's, but not small sensors), and that the 40mm is the worst of them all. Is there a way to get the best out of it, and which comparable lens could do better. I sell pictures for print, so I need some resolution.

Third, I want to take this further and I'm looking for a 10x as well. Is a Nikon CFI Plan Achromat 10x is a good start?

Thanks you in advance for any comments

Rollin

realjax · Post by **realjax** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:21 am

Hi Rollin!

Seen many of your beautiful pictures before, most are true works of art!
Might as well provide some links to them, I know people here would love to see them

Edit: I see you already have links setup.. never mind me.

Re your ant, I think I see some focus banding but I'm not entirely sure. It's hard to tell from the small size image. One thing I find less attractive here is the (seemingly) OOF right last leg, just sticking out above the ant's thorax. Maybe some more shots would have solved these problems and/or maybe things can be corrected in adjusting the stacking order.. Did you take these using a tripod? What Stacking software was used..

And out of interest, how did you 'sedate' the ant ?

Rollin · Post by **Rollin** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 3:00 am

Dear Jacco,

Thank you for your kind words.

The setup: I used a gitzo 1548 tripod with ArcaSwiss B1g ballhead to support a D2x with Pb4 bellows and the Luminar. Two flashes were used and a paper diffuser. As I like the animal sitting in his environment, I took a part of the colony structure with the ant on it and fumed it with ether. The stacking mechanism was an old microscope (I'm looking for a better one).

The hind leg is were it really was, I don't think the image is showing something wrong, but indeed, it is somewhat confusing. I took 65 shots, and used Pmax as well as Dmap. I did not notice any banding, but I will check again.

Rollin

realjax · Post by **realjax** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 3:31 am

Rollin wrote:Dear Jacco,
The hind leg is were it really was, I don't think the image is showing something wrong, but indeed, it is somewhat confusing. I took 65 shots, and used Pmax as well as Dmap. I did not notice any banding, but I will check again.
Rollin

Ah, no I didn't mean it didn't look natural or anything, what I meant was that the upper part of this leg seems to be the only part of the ant that's not in focus?

Rollin · Post by **Rollin** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 4:03 am

Ah, now I understand.

It is not sharp indeed. I'll tell you why

With this microscope, I can only make 32 images in a row before the (finer) focus system comes to an end. Then I have to turn the knob all the way back, find the same focusplane again where I stopped and make a second stack. I could have made a third one for the leg, but I was to lazy.

Rollin

gmazza · Post by **gmazza** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:01 pm

Liked the shoot, liked the fact that even with low contrast you managed for the subject to pop in the photo.

The visit to your image bank was a nice surprise, good wildlife gallery.

I would be interested in the method you used to sedate the ant, and allowed all these shoots.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 8:00 pm

Rollin, welcome aboard! (Sorry -- I missed this topic when it started.)

You asked

I'm looking for a 10x as well. Is a Nikon CFI Plan Achromat 10x is a good start?

Yes, it is. There are several 10X lenses that are known to work well. If you prefer to work with infinity on telephoto, then the CFI Plan Achromat 10X NA 0.25 is a good choice. It gives 10X on 200 mm telephoto and will also cover 1.6 crop factor sensors at lower magnification by using it on shorter telephotos (e.g., at 7X on a 135 mm HERE, or even at slightly over 5X on a 105 mm, HERE). If you prefer to work with finites on bellows, then the CF N Plan Achromat 10X NA 0.30 is excellent at 10X and above. Or if you are looking for somewhat lower powers, then the Nikon Finite Conjugate Objective sold by Edmund Optics works OK down to 7X (HERE).

The ant looks great. I am a little surprised that its posture looks so natural when fumed with ether. I am wondering if you used very dilute fumes for a long time. How long did it take to anesthetize the ant?

--Rik

Rollin · Post by **Rollin** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:45 am

Thank you all for the comments an suggestions.

I guess I just got lucky with the sedation as everyone is so surprised with the effect. I got this little jar with some toilet paper in it. I used two drops of ether. Then I put the jar upside down over a small piece of colony with an ant or three. Lasius flavus is a slow ant, so even when not sedated not that much movement. After a couple of minutes, I used my Wild MZ3 to put the best looking ant in a better position with a very fine piece of wire.

After the stacks it walked away, slowly as usual. I also pictured some visitors like the ant woodlouse. I must admit, doing stacks can be fun.

Now, I'll start looking for some optics. I noticed this will not be easy in Belgium.

Rollin

ChrisLilley · Post by **ChrisLilley** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:48 am

Rollin wrote: start looking for some optics. I noticed this will not be easy in Belgium.

For Edmund Optics, go to their website and in the top right corner change the country to Belgium. I live in France and ordered from them the same way; the objective shipped from the UK.

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:21 am

Where do you buy "ether", and I wonder what you buy as "ether"! See Wikipedia
In the paranoid UK you'd probably be arrested as a rapist or terrorist for asking for it.

Rollin · Post by **Rollin** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:46 pm

I used diethyl ether to be exact. This is sold in pharmacies in Belgium to dissolve glues on skin and things like that.

We use Rohypnol to rape and semtex to blow things up around here. I wonder what will happen if you use Rohypnol on an ants nest...

Rollin

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 1:56 pm

Reading the Wiki P article further, it's used in diesel engine starting fluids. Those are relatively cheap and come in a big spraycan, with an antiexploding additive. Perhaps worth a try.
I'm reminded of a case of a garage mechanic who noticed the volatility of the stuff. He used it to murder someone, convinced that it would all evaporate and leave no trace. The body was full it though, and the trace constituents enough to confirm it to be the make he used in his workshop. Apologies for the digression!