Dragonflies and Damselflies

[AlanF]

Thanks Pape, Alan and Click
Next learning from yesterdays photo session: Common damselflies have fur! Not very thick but anyway..

I really noticed the fur between two recent shots of a Scarce Chaser. One was at 400mm, and then I put on the 1.4xTC and the fur really stood out. The extra resolution was crucial. I was surprised to come across a Scarce Chaser as they have only recently to our area.

 

[Erik X]

Beautiful pictures, Alan!
The four-spotted chaser is quite furry also, it really stands out when backlit..

 

[Maximilian]

They are back.. at last!
I think they are even faster this year

Great pics Erik!

Useful results in flight is still impossible to me. But great to see what you can get.

This season I didn't have the time yet to go practicing...

 

[Maximilian]

... two recent shots of a Scarce Chaser.

Lovely, Alan

 

[AlanF]

Another furry 4-spot chaser from this week. I managed to get her all in focus.

 

[Erik X]

.. I managed to get her all in focus.

Beautiful, how did you do that?

 

[Erik X]

.. Useful results in flight is still impossible to me. But great to see what you can get...

It helps to develop schizophrenia, left eye looking outside the viewfinder to do coarse tracking using right brain hemisphere, right eye looking through the viewfinder to handle fine tracking and focusing simultaneously using left hemisphere.. or whatever, I'm sure the signals are crossed somewhere Sometimes it works reasonably well for a while but then there is some kind of total short circuit .. Maybe I should start collecting stamps instead
Those emerald dragonflies use to hover for about 1.5 seconds occasionally, that is the only chance to capture them in flight; use continuos shooting while adjusting focus back and forth. Or shoot from a low position so the background is clear sky, AF might be an option then

 

[AlanF]

Beautiful, how did you do that?

Got the angle just right - exactlky perpendicular. As you know, that's more difficult than it sounds. Anyway, the genitalia are in focus and you can see it is a female.

 

[Erik X]

Another view of the yellow-spotted emerald..

 

[Click]

Erik and Alan,

Very nice pictures, guys.

 

[Erik X]

..and yet another..

 

[AlanF]

Exceptional Erik!

 

[Maximilian]

It helps to develop schizophrenia, left eye looking outside the viewfinder to do coarse tracking using right brain hemisphere, right eye looking through the viewfinder to handle fine tracking and focusing simultaneously using left hemisphere.. or whatever, I'm sure the signals are crossed somewhere Sometimes it works reasonably well for a while but then there is some kind of total short circuit .. Maybe I should start collecting stamps instead
Those emerald dragonflies use to hover for about 1.5 seconds occasionally, that is the only chance to capture them in flight; use continuos shooting while adjusting focus back and forth. Or shoot from a low position so the background is clear sky, AF might be an option then

Thanks for the advice. Some of that I have already tried.
But surely not patient and long enough

 

[Erik X]

A four-spotted chaser, 1 millisecond before landing
This is another way to catch dragonflies inflight, lock focus on the reed they are sitting on (or a few centimeters behind). When they leave for catching a prey, it is very likely that they will come back to the same spot in a matter of seconds.. just wait and activate continuous shooting when they approach Success rate maybe one out of ten attempts.. more than ten times better than any other method I have tried

 

[Click]

Cool shot. Well done, Erik.

 

[Erik X]

A damselfly shot with the "pre-focus on the presumed landing spot"-method described above.
I wish I could get also the reflection sharp but it seems impossible due to longer light path. If the reflection is sharp, the main motif is not..

 

[Erik X]

The four-spotted chaser taking a break..

 

[AlanF]

The four-spotted chaser taking a break..

Nice one! Look carefully Erik and you might spot this four-spot chaser eating its lunch.

 

[Erik X]

Nice, it seems to enjoy it's lunch I'm fascinated about their color-scheme, it seems as if the body fluids are color-matched to look good behind the transparent body section? Yeah I know how evolution is supposed to work but sometimes I get the feeling that there was a designer (or possibly an engineer) involved, who did some experiments just for fun
By the way, I see that you have 2x TC III in your equipment list. How does it work together with EF100-400? I know there will be no AF but besides that, does it add any resolution compared to 1.4x TC?

 

[Erik X]

Maybe damselflies are not as innocent as they may look..
When I was watching them, I suddenly noticed that one damselfly was lying down motionless in the water while another was hovering above. First I though that it was a tragic accident during mating; one of the damselflies accidentially hit the water and the partner was bravely trying to rescue.. But should'nt a damselfly be able to get up from the water, or at least it shouldn't drown immediately? Theory discarded, I guess this is most likely a male damselfly which simply killed its rival and stays for a while to ensure that the rival really is dead..