Camponotus castaneus
Champaign, Illinois
I photographed this ant's nest yesterday afternoon. A couple hundred large, orange ants with piles of silken cocoons under a board in the park next to our house. I feel vaguely guilty about this now, as the soggy remains of Hurricane Ike are blowing through town this morning and everything is underwater. If I disturbed the structure of their nest too much, the ants might not have had time to repair their water-proofing. I suppose I should check in on them again once the weather improves.
photo details: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon 20D
ISO 100, f/13, 1/250 sec, flash diffused through tracing paper
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I love these ants. I have a colony out in my yard I've been meaning to rob but haven't had the chance yet. I caught a queen of them this past spring and her brood failed.
Beautiful picture.
Great photos on your blog! I have no idea how you get these guys to sit still long enough to produce such crisp images. Diffusing the flash with tracing paper is a great idea; I never use flash because the glare gives an unattractive look to the critters, but that's something I should try.