Sunday, 27th July 2008
Leafcutter Ant
by Matt B-L
It took me a few hours to get this photograph of a Leafcutter Ant in Costa Rica, during which I suffered numerous fire ant stings on my feet! I had the camera set up on a tripod and used a remote cord to fire the shutter when the ant came into frame. It is said that these ants can lift up to 20x their own weight!
Equipment: Canon EOS 1D MKIII, MP-E 65mm f/2.8 macro
Matt B-L
I have been a keen photographer for just over three years now. I especially enjoy wildlife and macro photography.
Website: Website
Leafcutter Ant by Matt B-L was photo of the day on Sunday, 27th July 2008. It is tagged Insects, Macro. You can leave a comment below.
23 Comments
Justin
Your patience paid off! Fantastic shot!
Lisa Atkins
Fire ant bites hurt!!! This is a fantastic shot!!
Srirama Raja
Great shot.
Malta Photography
Very nice capture. The colors are contrasting and the black background makes a really good impression. the leaf is just marvelous.
Lakshmi
This is lovely. You have caught the ant in action and the black background makes everything stand out! Worth all the time and effort, I’d say!
Sue Gagnon
This is very nicely done!!!
p.s. sorry about the Fire ants.
TomBrooklyn
Your patience was well rewarded. Good work. Try wearing gaiters next time, it might keep the ants from getting into your boots.
Marie Dunphy Harding
You’ve given me a whole new perspective on ants.
Great shot.
planet lover
Twenty times their own weight! WOW! I certainly wouldn’t be able to do that. Your shot is just marvelous. Thanks for sharing.
omar franco
amazing! it takes more than equipment to get this wonderful picture!
Paul Dass
Brilliant capture just on perfect time. Very sorry about the ant bites but it was worth it.
Jacob Maentz
Beautiful Macro shot! Well worth the few hours it took.
Anurag
Beautiful shot, as others have said previously.
Are you using Flash over here? If so then what is the setup?
Pauline Jones
Well worth a few stings; well done
poster boy
Wow that is a great shot!
Janell
This is a great shot. I have always been amazed by ants, my son and I will sit and watch ants and talk for hours. He will love this photo. Thank you for your time and effort, it paid off.
Matt
Thank you everyone for your comments! I forgot to mention the flash equipment. I used an MR-14EX ring flash and a remote 580EX Speedlite. Due to the high power output of the flashes and the close working distance to the subject, the background was rendered completely black.
su
Wow, great shot.
Renee
amazing!
mike
They are pretty strong.
Su
Such a wonderful shot
Renee
Still makes me smile when i see this shot
Steffi
OMG! This is amazing