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Getting the backdrop right: an example

May 25, 2008 by myrmecos

This basic photo of a harvester ant carrying a seed took an hour and a half to capture. 150 exposures. The problem wasn’t that the ants weren’t behaving, but that it took nearly an hour of experimentation to get the simplicity of composition I had envisioned when I set out on the project.

Few of my better photos are one-off shots. Most exist in my head in some form or another before I attempt to shoot them, and once I’ve started a session they take a bit of experimentation before finding the right conditions.  Yesterday I headed up towards Mt. Lemmon where I knew of several nests of the photogenic Pogonomyrmex barbatus, with the thought of capturing a simple, representative image of the species engaged in characteristic seed-gathering behavior. The first stop was an active nest on a patch of red-yellow soil. I spent 45 minutes lining up decent, in-focus shots but without producing anything with any kind of zing. After looking through the lackluster results, I realized that the background sand at the nest was too close in color to the ants. Here’s a sample:

A red ant on reddish soil blends in when I need it to stand out. (Also, at this angle the seed tends to get lost in the texture of the background…) So I packed up and went down the trail, and where the soil changed to a whiter color I found a second colony. A more neutral background provided a better contrast, but this nest was busier. Not only was I getting stung, but I was having trouble isolating a single seed-carrying ant in the frame:

Eventually I found a single-file trail over an open patch of soil. However, here the background challenge was not color but texture. In several spots the sand gave way to gravel. A gravel backdrop is busy and distracting, making it especially difficult to see the seed:

Compare that shot with the winning one, captured where the ants’ trail crossed finer-grained sand:

See the difference?

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Posted in Ants, Insect Links, Photography Links | Tagged composition, macrophotography, Nature | 6 Comments

6 Responses

  1. on May 25, 2008 at 5:37 pm ihateaphids

    Do you SEE why I think you might make me look bad in the lab!!!???

    AN HOUR AND A HALF FOR A PHOTO!!!??


  2. on May 26, 2008 at 7:35 am myrmecos

    ihateaphids-
    On the contrary. You certainly won’t have to worry about me being a speed demon.


  3. on May 26, 2008 at 5:46 pm The most feared animal in Arizona ran away from me « Myrmecos Blog

    […] out photographing harvester ants this weekend, I happened upon one of these dreaded animals when I disturbed a rock. The scorpion, […]


  4. on May 27, 2008 at 10:13 am Aydin

    What would Ansel Adams have done? He would have probably “visualized” the image he wanted for an hour and a half & then taken one shot to get it right. I guess, at the end, it’s the same thing.


  5. on May 28, 2008 at 10:26 am myrmecos

    Ansel Adams, from what I understand, would have spent *months* scoping out the scene and waiting for a day with the right lighting.

    On the other hand, his landscapes didn’t scurry about like an ant.


  6. on June 1, 2008 at 11:30 pm Marvin

    What can I say? You’re right about the best photo. At least you had the luxury of the fact the ants were going to stick around — albeit scurrying — for 150 exposures taken over an hour and a half. Most of my subjects tend to depart after a shot or two.



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