Post AsAMOFjxNQNJs2Fbsm by EricFielding@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by EricFielding@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #As7mQ4iPLxH1afAyhc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-16T21:21:41Z
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People post photos to the ant identification board: "they are in my living room what kind of ants??"And the photo is so terrible I'm like "I don't even know if that's an insect or a spider ... or a little black ball of lint."*How* do they think we can identify the ants if we can't even count their legs?I give instructions for doing better insect photography (even on a budget) this is naturally part of my pro-ant propaganda campaign. When you at last *see* ants they become more relatable.
(DIR) Post #As7p7DTUrRrL7Mttho by Subterfuge@dice.camp
2025-03-16T21:51:50Z
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@futurebird sure, but the ants are almost always Argentinian ants anywayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_ant
(DIR) Post #As7pCUOrMRRp3gFJNQ by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-16T21:52:51Z
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@Subterfuge But this was Dallas so it could be fire ants.
(DIR) Post #As7pFHIoVuPBJ1kQTI by Subterfuge@dice.camp
2025-03-16T21:53:19Z
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@futurebird oh! that's outside my wheelhouse. damn.
(DIR) Post #As7pNtmjJvd2yRqrEu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-16T21:54:54Z
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@Subterfuge Also, getting to see photos of ants is the price I charge for looking them up. Show me the ants!
(DIR) Post #As7pQE0X6WESGxPukK by Subterfuge@dice.camp
2025-03-16T21:55:20Z
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@futurebird lol! Well that I totally agree with.
(DIR) Post #As7pV0IVVOUJCQ6RrE by Subterfuge@dice.camp
2025-03-16T21:56:10Z
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@futurebird Pictures or them ants ain't happening!
(DIR) Post #As7uz5znNqS7KXWFA8 by Burn_this_@beige.party
2025-03-16T22:57:35Z
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@futurebird If it's a bunch of various-sized black blobs, it's mice.
(DIR) Post #As8BvTKkN19tm3B1eq by adrake@sfba.social
2025-03-17T02:07:27Z
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@futurebird it's tough with a lot of cellphones; mine (pixel 7 pro) has 3 lenses and none of them can take a usefully sharp image of a small insect. The telephoto lens produces the best result but it can't focus closer than two feet so the insect is only a tiny part of the image, the middle lens is better in theory but it has such narrow depth of field at close range that if you don't hold the camera perfectly parallel to the insect it will be partly out of focus. If you do any sort of digital zoom (including between lenses) you get a horrible blurry AI-scaled result that can hallucinate (or hallucinate away) important details. By default the camera gives you an AI-based macro mode which is even worse. And that's a high end phone!(I gave up and cheated and took a photo through the eyepiece of my microscope.)
(DIR) Post #AsAMOFjxNQNJs2Fbsm by EricFielding@mastodon.social
2025-03-18T03:14:08Z
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@futurebird Most recent iPhone cameras can do good job on closeup photos. Not sure about android. People should get closer to the ant, as you know