Ant on Bottlebrush Flower

[BillTyler]

While setting up to photograph this bottlebrush flower, I noticed that it was host to a steady stream of ants, feeding on something I couldn't quite be sure of. Ants move quickly, and there is very little depth of field. Most technical data not recorded, but this was most likely an ancient 55mm Micro Nikkor, mounted in reverse on a PB-6 bellows at unrecorded extension and unrecorded aperture. Nikon D200 body, 1/160, ISO 400. SB-24 flash in manual mode.

[Julie Kenward]

Bill, although I really like the translucency of the bottlebrush and the ant, the OOF green at the top of the image and the flash remnants at the bottom both draw my eye away from the main subject. If you could clone those out I think this would be a really interesting image. I'd also rework the crop and take the ant out of the center position and more into the rule-of-thirds.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Having made few images of ants, I surely understand the difficulty in getting these tiny swift ones in focus. You've pulled off a nice image. But I would second Julie on her thoughts regarding the comp & some bright distracting areas.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Bill,
You have a sharp little guy...:) I like the compositional balance and the selective focus on your subject...I too agree with Miss Julie on the ghost flash residuals and the small out of focus green blotch on the top of the frame...aside from this, I like it...:cool:

[Mike Moats]

Hey Bill love the DOF and agree with others on croping the green or clone over it.