Among the more common twig ants across the Neotropics is the pleasingly orange Pseudomyrmex simplex. I somehow managed to avoid photographing it until our recent Brazilian adventure, however. Here are a couple shots of workers carrying larvae to safety after I split open a small twig containing a satellite nest.
As these ants are shiny, photographs of them are prone to glare if the light is not sufficiently soft. Here, I spent extra time arranging my mylar diffuser to get the lighting right.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 7D
ISO 200, f/13, 1/200 sec
diffuse twin flash
Haha, cute!
Gorgeous. Was the ISO 200 setting part of that effort to minimize glare?
Excellent pictures! You had mentioned before that you kept about 3% of the pictures you took while in Brazil. Did this subject require almost 70 pictures, or was this an “easier” shoot because she was concerned about the safety of the larvae?