u/NanzaDK

Early morning in Frederiksberg Have. This Black Garden Ant (Lasius niger) was working the joint where a new blade was pushing through the reed stem — the plant's own sap catching the flash and glowing white beneath its feet.

I deliberately didn't crop tight. The context of the stem junction and the surrounding green felt like part of the story.

Lasius niger is one of the most common insects in Europe, but up close it's easy to forget that. The glossy gaster, the alert posture, the compound eye.

OM System OM-1 | M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO | M.Zuiko Digital 2x MC-20 | Godox V860iii | f/10 | ISO 200 | 1/100 | Handheld
Frederiksberg Have, Denmark

All photos are my own original content.

Came back to my favourite spot for the first time this year — the reeds had been almost completely cut back over winter. Just a few small ones left.

I almost turned around. Kept the flash low to let the background breathe rather than kill it, and found this clinging to one of the last stems.

Ptychoptera contaminata — the Orange-marked Cranefly. The banded orange and black abdomen is aposematic colouration, a warning to predators. The iridescent blue-green thorax is something you'd walk straight past at normal speed.

OM System OM-1 | M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO | M.Zuiko Digital 2x MC-20 | Godox V860iii | f/10 | ISO 200 | 1/100 | Handheld
Frederiksberg Have, Denmark

All photos are my own original content.

Shot this worker on a woodpile in Brodski Stupnik, Croatia. Two frames of the same individual — head-on first, then full profile showing the characteristic heart-shaped waist and gaster tilt.

Shot this worker on a woodpile in Brodski Stupnik, Croatia. Two frames of the same individual — head-on first, then full profile showing the characteristic heart-shaped waist and gaster tilt.

Shot this worker on a woodpile in Brodski Stupnik, Croatia. Two frames of the same individual — head-on first, then full profile showing the characteristic heart-shaped waist and gaster tilt.

Shot this worker on a woodpile in Brodski Stupnik, Croatia. Two frames of the same individual — head-on first, then full profile showing the characteristic heart-shaped waist and gaster tilt.

Shot this worker on a woodpile in Brodski Stupnik, Croatia. Two frames of the same individual — head-on first, then full profile showing the characteristic heart-shaped waist and gaster tilt.

I was crouched over a woodpile in Croatia, flash kit ready, waiting
for a moment that almost never comes with ants 🐜

This one was moving fast — antennae working the air, mandibles ahead,
purpose in every step. The head-on moment came and went in under a second.
A fraction of that was sharp. That fraction became the first shot 🌞

Two frames. Same individual. The face — and the posture that gave it
its name. That heart-shaped gaster, tilted upward. That's the "cocktail":
when alarmed, Crematogaster aims it like a weapon, releasing chemical
signals that mobilise the whole colony in seconds.

You don't stalk ants. You follow them, adjust your settings, and hope
the light holds.

🌿✨ Slow down, look closer – nature is waiting 💚🍂

🐜 Subject: Cocktail Ant (Crematogaster scutellaris)
📸 Camera: OM System OM-1
⚪️ Lens: M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO
🔍 Teleconverter: MC-20
⚡️ Flash: Godox V860iii
⬜️ Diffuser: Cygnustech
✋🏻 Shot: Handheld
🔢 ISO: 200
🌫 Aperture: f/13
⏱ Speed: 1/100
📍 Location: Brodski Stupnik, Croatia

Found this on a woodpile in Croatia — not that small, and absolutely no interest in staying still. Over logs, under bark, gone.

Up close the pronotum is covered in dense golden hairs radiating outward across a dark blue-black surface, next to those vivid orange elytra.

If a click beetle ends up on its back, it arches its body and releases a hinge mechanism between the pro- and mesothorax — launching itself into the air with an audible click. A built-in self-righting system.

OM System OM-1 | M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO | M.Zuiko Digital 2x MC-20 | Godox V860iii | f/14 | ISO 200 | 1/100 | Handheld

Brodski Stupnik, Croatia

All photos are my own original content.

Found this on a woodpile in Croatia — not that small, and absolutely no interest in staying still. Over logs, under bark, gone.

Up close the pronotum is covered in dense golden hairs radiating outward across a dark blue-black surface, next to those vivid orange elytra.

If a click beetle ends up on its back, it arches its body and releases a hinge mechanism between the pro- and mesothorax — launching itself into the air with an audible click. A built-in self-righting system.

OM System OM-1 | M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO | M.Zuiko Digital 2x MC-20 | Godox V860iii | f/14 | ISO 200 | 1/100 | Handheld

Brodski Stupnik, Croatia

All photos are my own original content.

Found this on a woodpile in Croatia — not that small, and absolutely no interest in staying still. Over logs, under bark, gone.

Up close the pronotum is covered in dense golden hairs radiating outward across a dark blue-black surface, next to those vivid orange elytra.

If a click beetle ends up on its back, it arches its body and releases a hinge mechanism between the pro- and mesothorax — launching itself into the air with an audible click. A built-in self-righting system.

OM System OM-1 | M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO | M.Zuiko Digital 2x MC-20 | Godox V860iii | f/14 | ISO 200 | 1/100 | Handheld

Brodski Stupnik, Croatia

All photos are my own original content.

Found this on a woodpile in Croatia — not that small, and absolutely no interest in staying still. Over logs, under bark, gone.

Up close the pronotum is covered in dense golden hairs radiating outward across a dark blue-black surface, next to those vivid orange elytra.

If a click beetle ends up on its back, it arches its body and releases a hinge mechanism between the pro- and mesothorax — launching itself into the air with an audible click. A built-in self-righting system.

OM System OM-1 | M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO | M.Zuiko Digital 2x MC-20 | Godox V860iii | f/14 | ISO 200 | 1/100 | Handheld

Brodski Stupnik, Croatia

All photos are my own original content.

Spotted this on a log in the woodpile — afternoon sun had it at full speed. Ran constantly across the bark, jumped a couple of times. Eye in the viewfinder, look up, look back — somewhere else entirely.

Only realised it was missing one antenna when I saw another one later with two. Didn't seem to affect its speed at all.

The gold-green iridescence is structural coloration — microscopic surface structures interfering with light, same physics as a soap bubble or oil slick.

OM System OM-1 | M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO | M.Zuiko Digital 2x MC-20 | Godox V860iii | f/10-18 | ISO 200 | 1/100 | Handheld

Brodski Stupnik, Croatia

Spotted this on a log in the woodpile — afternoon sun had it at full speed. Ran constantly across the bark, jumped a couple of times. Eye in the viewfinder, look up, look back — somewhere else entirely.

Only realised it was missing one antenna when I saw another one later with two. Didn't seem to affect its speed at all.

The gold-green iridescence is structural coloration — microscopic surface structures interfering with light, same physics as a soap bubble or oil slick.

OM System OM-1 | M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO | M.Zuiko Digital 2x MC-20 | Godox V860iii | f/10-18 | ISO 200 | 1/100 | Handheld

Brodski Stupnik, Croatia

Spotted this on a log in the woodpile — afternoon sun had it at full speed. Ran constantly across the bark, jumped a couple of times. Eye in the viewfinder, look up, look back — somewhere else entirely.

Only realised it was missing one antenna when I saw another one later with two. Didn't seem to affect its speed at all.

The gold-green iridescence is structural coloration — microscopic surface structures interfering with light, same physics as a soap bubble or oil slick.

OM System OM-1 | M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO | M.Zuiko Digital 2x MC-20 | Godox V860iii | f/10 | ISO 200 | 1/100 | Handheld

Brodski Stupnik, Croatia