Back garden Ants and Pale Headed Rosella

[Dennis]

Hello,

The warmer weather appears to have made the insects and bird life more active of late, so I was lucky enough to grab a few snaps of an ant and a gorgeous Pale Headed Rosella that was destroying a bottle brush tree in the paddock behind our house.:)

I’ve also included a Kookaburra and Crested Pigeon who are regular visitors.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[Octane]

The detail in the last bird's eye.

Beautiful.

H

[gary]

Hi Dennis,

Even with the ant you have managed to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

The birds are once again superb but the very first one of the Pale Headed Rosella
is sublime.

The composition and colour balance are wonderful. It just works perfectly.
For example, the use of depth of field causes the blurred green area immediately to the right of the
parrot to echo the coloured area of his nape and the textures and details of the grevillea echo his own feather textures.

Some of this will be thousands of years of evolution by the parrots ancestors so they blend in, but your eye
has composed it so well. The softness you achieved across the shot is wonderful. Again it echoes the softness of the bird itself.
That takes talent.

[cybereye]

Dennis,

Beautiful pictures - I'd have to say that the Kookaburra is my favourite.... :thumbsup:

Cheers,
Mario

[Larryp]

Great shots, Dennis :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Incredible detail and colour.

[rogerco]

They recon ants barely have big enough brains to function but these wonderfull photos show it obviously doing something really carefully and with thought. Its photographs like these that really make you wonder about the kingdom of the bugs. Great photographs.

[CJ]

Beautiful shots!

[RickS]

Stunning images, Dennis! The ants are very cool but the birds are fantastic.

[Dennis]

Well Gary, thank you; your lovely post deserves a suitable reply!:)

I find the Pale Headed Rosella one of the most photogenic birds and we were stunned to see a pair so close to our back garden as in our experience, they seem very shy and wary of people. We were at an upstairs window so my viewpoint was very restricted and for most of the captures, the bird was hidden behind foliage and I was quite lucky to get a few clearer shots.:)

The light was dropping off (it was after 4:00pm) and so I shot at ISO1600 on the Canon 7D and I was expecting noiseville, but processing has mitigated most of the effects of noise.

When I took the series, I wasn’t expecting too much due to the above constraints but I was bowled over with what popped up on the screen once I uploaded the images.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

Thanks H – the trusty 70-200 F4 L is exquisitely sharp!:)

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

Thanks Roger. The more I am able to see into the life and activities of insects and other creatures through my lens, I am increasingly left with very strong feelings that nature is an extraordinary system with such a diverse range of species, all incredibly integrated into the whole process of life.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

Thanks Mario, Laurie, Mike, Chris and Rick, I appreciate your lovely words.:)

@Rick – I find the Pale Headed Rosellas are breathtakingly beautiful birds to see and take photos of.:)

Cheers

Dennis

[FlashDrive]

Magnificent Photos....great detail and colour :thumbsup:

Flash.....

[Derek Klepp]

Dennis as a birdo I was wondering have you boosted the colours in the Rosella. The ones down here are slightly paler in their blue hue.I especially like the ant shots. Which lense did you use there?

[Dennis]

Hi Derek

For a comparison, here is the “Raw” image cropped from the native Canon “CR2” file before any processing, either in-camera or via CS6 which is my mostly used tool.

For the ants I used the Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro lens on the 7D and the greater pixel density of the 7D essentially places more pixels on the subject compared to the 5D Mk III.

Cheers

Dennis

[Osirisra]

Awesome shots!

You find the 7D better for macro than the 5D MkIII?

[Dennis]

Hi Ken

My experience and understanding is that the 7D puts more pixels (4.6u) on the subject compared to the 5D Mk III (6.25u) with the result that the image scale is superior (bigger ants with the 7D) when I compare my 7D macro efforts to those of the 5D Mk III.

However, the 7D produces more “grain” in large monotone regions of the image, which mostly can be managed by noise reduction and smoothing.

Cheers

Dennis

[astro_south]

Nice shooting Dennis - as stated, the detail in and around the topknot's eye is great.

Looking forward to the macro season ahead :thumbsup:

[Osirisra]

Cheers Dennis, Thought that was the case. I'm getting the MKIII soon to go along with my crop frames. I find I get quite a bit of noise in the monotones with them as well which will be nice to not have with the full frame but loosing that extra bit of reach with the crop frames will me missed for sure.

[ourkind]

Dennis these images are superb! Did you notice the Ant has a crown on its back, really obvious on the 2nd photo. Stunning!!

[Dennis]

Thanks for your comments Carlos, I appreciate them.:)

I have noticed this “crown” on several photos of this particular type of ant and assumed that it may protect the body where the thorax joins the abdomen, although this is purely a guess.:question:

I think that this particular ant is a “Rattle Ant” and it does not appear to be aggressive.

Cheers

Dennis