Posts in Category: Odonata
11/7/2011: Female Green Darner (green variety)
It is Macro Monday on Google+ so I will return to Irvine California for another dragonfly shot. This is a female Green Darner of the green variety (most common…there is a blue variety which I also photographed, but I will save that for another Macro Monday 🙂 This was taken with the Canon SX40HS at full optical zoom plus 2x digital tel-converter for the equivalent field of view of a 1680mm lens…from about 6 feet, handheld. This is a fun camera!
Pulling back a bit to see the whole bug, we have a second shot from the same distance using only the optical zoom for 840mm equivalent.
The Green Darner is one of the largest North American dragonflies and, in my opinion, a stunning bug!
1) f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 100 and 2) f5.8 @ 1/500th @ ISO 100. Program with iContrast. –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed for Intensity and Sharpness in Lightroom.
10/27/2011: Biology Lesson: Green Darners
The mating wheel of the Green Darner Dragonfly.
Which leads inevitably to this: the female depositing eggs, with the male still attached.
San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge, Irvine CA.
Canon SX40HS at 1) 780mm equivalent field of view, f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 200, 2) 780mm, f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 200, 3) 840mm plus 1.5 digital tel=extender for 1260mm equivalent, f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 250. Program with iContrast.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
10/22/2011: Female Green Darner, Irvine CA
I believe this is a female Green Darner Dragonfly. Green Darners were patrolling the pond edges and paths at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine California in great numbers…and unlike the Green Darners I tried to photograph in Ohio and Maine, these were actually lighting on occasion and still long enough for me to get some shots.
This shot is pretty amazing to me. It is the Canon SX40HS at 840mm equivalent with 2x digital tel-extender engaged, for the equivalent field of view of a 1680mm lens on a full frame DSLR…handheld at about 4.5 feet. f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 400. Talk about your telephoto macro! Totally impressive!
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
10/6/2011: Dragonfly at the limits
On my short visit to Henriticus City Park (a historical reenactment site near Chester VA, and the main offices for ZEISS Sports Optics) after work yesterday, I found this dragonfly sitting on the tip of a stripped willow branch out over the marsh…too far away. But, with my new fascination with dragonflies, I had to try.
I like it as an image. I like the arch of the branch and the final wispy twist isolated against the sky…and the way the dragonfly (I think just a well aged Ruby Meadowhawk) in its sun-posting pose echoes it. I like the evening light of the low sun.
And that I got the image at all is somewhat amazing to me. The Canon SX40is locked on focus on the first attempt and I shot several images at the long end of the zoom, 840mm equivalent field of view. The Canon’s image stabilization is amazing. Even at 840mm this is a heavily cropped image…well over 50%, down to 2700×1560 from 4000×3000…leaving about 4.2mp out of 12. That is a pretty heavy crop for a Point and Shoot super-zoom! Clicking the image will take you to my WideEyedInWonder site where you can see an even larger version.
Canon SX40is at 840mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 100. Program.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
9/21/2011: Face to face with a Dragon
For Wings on Wednesday, lets go with dragonflies. There were a lot of dragonflies in Ohio, but they would not sit for me. I saw Common Green Darners in great numbers, and a couple of Black Saddlebags. No pics! I think this is a worn and weary Ruby Meadowhawk sitting on the rail of the boardwalk at Magee Marsh. Worn because its color is dull and the face plate is dingy rather than white. Weary because it sat for its portrait at 32mm equivalent field of view and with the camera inches from its tail (second shot).
And I was so close here I had to crop out the shadow of the camera behind the bug.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close UP mode: 1) 60mm equivalent field of view. f4.6 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160. 2) 32mm equivalent (the auto setting for Close UP mode), f4.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
9/9/2011: Ruby Meadowhawk (I think)
I am pretty sure we don’t have any more dragonflies this year than any year…but I am certainly seeing a lot more. It began, suspiciously, when I got my new camera with its 810mm equivalent reach and efficient telephoto close up setting…which enables some very satisfying approaches to dragonflies. Suddenly they are everywhere. We have way more species in Southern Maine than I ever dreamed of, and I have now seen, and photographed, a good number of them. I am even learning their names…with the emphasis on learning. With each new fly, I go to my references and try to name it. I am never completely confident…and matters are not helped by the fact that even at this early stage I can tell that about a quarter of the images on the internet are mislabeled. 🙁
So I think, tentatively, that this is a Ruby Meadowhawk. I think, because if you do a search for images of Ruby Meadowhawk on the internet, at least a third of what turns up are obviously female Blue Dashers. Please, anyone who knows, correct me if I am wrong here.
Whatever this bug is, though, it is a striking contrast to the foliage around it. And you have to love the name: Ruby Meadowhawk…so I am really hoping I am right.
Nikon Coolpix P300 at 499mm equivalent field of view and Close Up mode, f5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
7/13/2011: Odonata. A different Wings on Wednesday.
There are a lot of dragonflies at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens when we visited last Friday. I used to think anything that looked like a dragonfly was a dragonfly…but I am learning, slowly, about damsels, darners, spreadwings, skimmers, and emeralds. As near as I can tell, the critter above is a Twelve Spotted Skimmer, though it lacks the cloudy blue patches on the wings of the other 12 Spots I photographed that day, and certainly has some extra color in the tail.
I found images on the internet of both these types, all labeled 12 Spotted Skimmer…so we will go with that until someone who really knows their Odonata sets me right 😉
I also found this Emerald Spreadwing resting on a leaf (for about a second) where it is somewhat difficult to see. The best part of photographing Odonata at a place like the CMBG, is the backgrounds!
And this Blue Darner resting on rock where it is really hard to see (the wings at least)…and, as you may notice, very hard for the camera to focus on. It was pretty still so I wish I had taken the time to check focus after the shot…but there it is! Just a “for the record” shot.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in (except for the Darner) Close Up scene mode, with the zoom setting over-ridden. 1) 499mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160. 2) 468mm @ f5.7 @ 1/200th @ ISO 160. 3) 435mm @ F5.6 @ 1/250th @ ISO 160. 4) 578mm @ f5.7 @ 1/200th @ ISO 160. 5) 810mm @ f5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.