I must do better next time.

[JohnP]

I took loads of shots of these Ants and I'm diappointed with all of them, I think they are a type of Wood Ant (I will have to check), they were a heaving mass about two feet across building a nest. They were extremely hard to get a focus on they were moving so fast. It's not a great shot so I'm just posting it out of interest really.

 

[NannyFerret]

I think you did well to get some of them in focus anyway.

[Korky]

If I had just a pound for every time I've been disappointed with a shot!

 

It's all part of the game I'm afraid.

 

Korky

[JohnP]

If I had just a pound for every time I've been disappointed with a shot!

 

It's all part of the game I'm afraid.

 

Korky

 

My old eyes just couldn't keep up with them... damn good fun trying though... I have um next time...

[Kobione]

They are not the easiest subjects, John . I've tried lots of times, but it is hard to get more than one in focus if they are very active. This looks like a very busy mass!

[Paul]

They are wood ants yes. Just watch out for the one day of the year when the queens fly....

 

 

Paul.

[ChrisLumix]

Silly question perhaps, but couldn't you have just set a fast shutter speed ... or am I missing something?

[JohnP]

Chris... I can't understand why I couldn't get a decent shot, I took 48 in all. Settings were typically around .. f16.. 160th.. Ringflash. I tried spot focus and pattern focus (9 focus pointing points) and none of the shots were sharp. I don't usually have problems like this.

[Paul]

John - have a look at this page - may of use to us all.

 

LINK

 

 

Paul.

[annie]

That really makes me shudder John.

 

I have stood in a flipping ants nest and the little blighters bite like mad....Ashton, my Grandson is always happy to come out bug hunting but if he sees ants he goes into a panic after me and him got covered in the damn things a few summers ago....

[JohnP]

John - have a look at this page - may of use to us all.

 

LINK

 

 

Paul.

 

Thank you Paul... I've bookmarked this. I thought there was something wrong with the camera, it seems that photography Ants is far more difficult than I thought.

[Brian]

I think you did well to get them in focus at all.....................................but talking of Ants; Reminded me of a box of b/w prints I had stored away from the early '70s. I had a Canon TLb at the time, before the days of electronic cameras, with a 50mm Prime lens. At the time I don't think I'd even heard of Macro, but what I did have was a bellows extension fitted between the lens and the body. This, dependent on the amount of extension, gave enormous magnification and very little depth of field.

Because the magnification was so great, it was very difficult to pick up your subject in the viewfinder. Also, as focusing with the focus ring was impossible you had to focus by moving the camera in and out. Aperture was wide open because of the bellows and speed was guesswork. Probably about 1 in 20 would be any good, but I had a lot of fun. 

 

 

By the way, this is a scan, uncropped but I must admit I did hit the sharpen button in Photoshop.

[FUJI]

Ants are indeed, great photographic subjects, difficult to capture because of their size and speed, the only time In wish I had a more powerful macro set up is when shooting them.

I do use my three extension tubes sometimes, but it ain't easy, hand heldn fast moving subjects.......I dislike intensely the macro shooters who freeze or cool their subjects first, to slow them down or to kill them.

I have seen incredibly detailed ant portraits on the doe is list forum, the lens of choice being the Canon MPE3 ? .....A beast of a lens that costs an arm and a leg and only works on Canon cameras as far as I know?

We have two species of ant in our ( tiny) long established Victorian gardens.......Black non biting black Wood Ants, the ones that might raid a pantry.

But, in the front garden we have long established nests of the biting, acid spraying Red Ant, not good to get in your socks or up a sleeve whilst gardening.......my good lady hates them, but I say leave well alone, they were here before us.

At the rear of the house, in an English Heritage Scheduled area, there are huge Ant Hills like the ones that were once common in fields before modern farming eradicated them, they are amazing structures, I must get permission to go in with my camera one day, the land is rented by a Smallholder for a flock of a Rare Sheep.

FUJI