• Home
  • About Alex Wild
  • Articles
  • Galleries
  • Myrmecology News

Myrmecos Blog

the little things matter

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Circus of the Spineless #29
Favorite photographers: Igor Siwanowicz »

Failed Photography: the Worst of Myrmecos

February 4, 2008 by myrmecos

I have thousands of absolutely awful photographs on my hard drive. I normally delete the screw-ups on camera as soon as they happen, but enough seep through that even after the initial cut they outnumber the good photos by at least 3 to 1. Here are a few of my favorite worst shots.

miss1.jpg

Thinking that nothing would be cooler than an action shot of a fruit fly in mid-air, I spent an entire evening trying to photograph flies hovering over a rotting banana. This shot is the closest I came to getting anything in focus.


miss3.jpg

That’s a nice finger in the background. It’s mine, you know.


miss9.jpg

Imagine how much fun it is to shoot Australia’s most painfully stinging ants, only to discover that one of your arm hairs was in the way for most of the key shots.


miss6.jpg

I love photos of ants. Most of you love photos of ants. But this shot of a small brown ant on brown dirt doing nothing is hands-down the most boring photograph I’ve ever taken. The fruit-fly at least had potential as abstract art. This, not so much.


miss2.jpg

The contorted front legs of this tiger beetle are the giveaway that I’ve just pulled it half-frozen from the fridge in an effort to slow it down. Yet, I still didn’t get the head in focus, so it looks both dead and blurry.


miss8.jpg

Speaking of that fresh-out-of-the-freezer look….


miss5.jpg

Dramatic shots of gliding Cephalotes ants only work when you get the ant in the frame. I’ve got hundreds of these- this one at least has most of the ant in it.


miss4.jpg

Hmmm… Ants? I think.


miss7.jpg

I’m not sure which is more pathetic: the fact that I wanted to photograph a dead velvet ant, or the fact that I thought putting it on some sand would make it look alive.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Blogging, Insect Links, Photography Links | Tagged bloopers, fail, macro, macrophotography, mediocrity, Nature | 5 Comments

5 Responses

  1. on February 4, 2008 at 4:20 am Benoit

    Thanks, this post is so reassuring!


  2. on February 4, 2008 at 11:35 am Marvin

    Thanks for this post. Knowing that we all have these problems is encouraging. The chilled-but-looking-dead effect is so frustrating, especially when the insect flies away at the instant of returning to normalcy.


  3. on February 4, 2008 at 1:21 pm neil

    I actually really like several of these shots. The hair in number three gives the photo a very tactile feel (along with the mandibles and stinger). I also like the mortraits.


  4. on February 5, 2008 at 8:14 am Photo News Today » Blog Archive » Failed Photography: the Worst of Myrmecos

    […] Source and Read More: myrmecos.wordpress.com […]


  5. on February 6, 2008 at 1:31 pm Toma01

    Wow, beautiful macro works!! Really like the first one!



Comments are closed.


  • This blog is an archive; the Myrmecos blog has moved.

    Please update your bookmarks!
  • Alex’s Galleries

    alexanderwild.com

  • Recent Photos

    DarkQue bonito trabajo el de la Luna...iluminar vidas cuando andan a oscuras.Elephant HeadEastern Coyote, Southern OntarioWindowsジュエリーアイス
    More Photos
  • Biology Links

    • Tree of Life
    • Understanding Evolution
  • Blogroll

    • Ainsley Vs Livejournal
    • Ammonite
    • Anna’s Bee World
    • Archetype
    • Arthropoda blog
    • Backyard Arthropod Project
    • Beetles in the Bush
    • biodiversity in focus
    • Bug Dreams
    • Bug Eric
    • Bug Girl’s Blog
    • Burrard-Lucas Photoblog
    • Catalogue of Organisms
    • Creature Cast
    • Dan Heller
    • Debbie's Insect Blog
    • Dechronization
    • Drawing the MotMot
    • Entomoblog
    • Evolving Thoughts
    • Fall to Climb
    • Generant
    • Historias de Hormigas
    • Life on Six Legs
    • Macromite
    • microecos
    • mirmekolozi
    • myrmecoid
    • Myrmician
    • Natural Imagery
    • Nature in the Ozarks
    • NCSU Insect Blog
    • No Cropping Zone
    • omit needless words
    • Photo Synthesis
    • Princess Peppercloud
    • Science Blogs
    • Snail’s Tales
    • Stu Jenks
    • The Ant Hunter
    • The Ant Room
    • The Bug Whisperer
    • The Loom
    • This Week in Evolution
    • What's Bugging You?
    • Wild about Ants
    • Xenogere
  • Insect Links

    • Ant Farm Forum
    • Ant Insights
    • Antweb
    • Bug Squad
    • bugguide.net
    • Xerces Society
  • Photography Links

    • Canon Photography Forums
    • Digital Photography Review
    • DIY Photography
    • Igor Siwanowicz
    • Mark Plonsky
    • photo.net
    • Piotr Naskrecki
    • The Strobist
  • Popular Posts

    • What does it mean to be an eyeless ant?
    • Must we call them meat ants?
    • How to Identify Queen Ants
    • Things that look like ants but aren't (Part 2)
    • The Rogue Taxonomist
    • Photo Technique: Working With Ants
    • Speed bumps for our understanding of ant evolution
    • The trouble with phylogenetics
    • Friday Beetle Blogging: Dendroides Larva
    • How to Identify the Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile
  • Recent Posts

    • This blog has moved.
    • Friday Beetle Blogging: The Hollyhock Weevil
    • The Friday Beetle will be late…
    • Bed bugs reach an all-time high
    • Answer to the Monday Night Mystery
  • Recent Comments

    • Donald Byron Johnson on Reader question: who discovered the sex of ant workers?
    • Anonymous on Update on the Rogue Taxonomist
    • Ant on Arizona Daily Star covers “Planet of the Ants”
    • Ga. Girl on Beware the Cow-Killer
    • Anonymous on Beware the Cow-Killer
  • Categories

  • Archives

  • animation Ants aphids arachnids Argentina arizona army ants art Bees beetles behavior biodiversity biology Biology Links bugs Canon carabidae coleoptera copyright Darwin desert diptera E. O. Wilson ecology entomology Evolution fail fire ants Flies formicidae genetics google haiku Harpegnathos imaging Insect Links Insects invasive species lighting Linepithema macro macrophotography macro photography Martialis media miniscule muppets music myrmecology mystery natural history Nature new species odontomachus Parasites Paratrechina pests pheidole Photography Photography business photoshop phylogenetics phylogeny Pogonomyrmex politics predation Scarabaeidae Science SEM social insects spiders Taxonomy termites travel wasps
  • Nature Blog Network
    Add to Technorati Favorites

    Follow this blog

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Myrmecos Blog
    • Join 91 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Myrmecos Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: