Posts in Category: butterflies and insects
12/19/2011: New Mexico Varigated Meadowhawks
I have been having a lot of fun with dragonflies over the past 6 months or so, and I am slowly amassing a collection of images. You can see what I have so far at my dragonflies gallery on WideEyedInWonder. This is female Varigated Meadowhawk from Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. This was by far the most common dragonfly at Bosque during our November visit. Despite the name, they were hunting the edges of the ponds and over the dyke roads. We even found them, like the male that follows, deep in the upland scrub desert, 100s of yards from the nearest water.
It was interesting to see that Varigated Meadowhawk in New Mexico in November is a good deal duller in color than VMs from California (third photo) in October.
Maybe the NM VMs were just a month older and more worn (you can see the bits of missing wing in the female)…and maybe it is regional variation.
Another shot of a NM male.
Canon SX40HS in Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1) 2) and 4 at 1680mm equivalent (840 optical plus 2x digital tel converter). 1) and 2) f5.8 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160. 4) same with ISO 125. 3) f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 200.
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
12/1/2011: Black Saddlebags Mating Wheel, Sabal Palms TX
I have really gotten into dragonflies this year, for some unknown reason. I am always looking for them, and, since it is new, I can generally find a new bug on most trips. The difference between this and birding is that I am photographing every dragonfly I see…or at least every dragonfly I can catch perched. I saw many Black Saddlebags this summer in Maine…they are so distinctive they are easy to identify on the wing…but it was several months before I found one sitting where I could photograph it.
On my recent trip to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, Black Saddlebags were everywhere but, again, perched Black Saddlebags were scarce. I was delighted to find this mating wheel within a step or two of the upland trail at Sabal Palms Sanctuary near Brownsville. This shot is at 840mm equivalent from about 4.5 feet (closest focus).
Engaging the 1.5x digital converter provided this more macro view of the head grip the male has on the female.
Or there is this view showing the male’s wings to good advantage, taken at 840mm equivalent plus 2x digital converter.
1) Exposure Time:0.0015s (1/640) Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:200 2) Exposure Time:0.002s (1/500)Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:200 3) Exposure Time:0.0025s (1/400) Aperture:f/5.8 ISO:200
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
And I did see several Red Saddlebags at Santa Anna NWR…but no photo yet!
11/11/2011: Unknown Dragonfly/Damselfly from TX
This bug is holding its wings like a Damselfly (and it was consistent in this wherever it landed), but its body parts look like a Dragon. It is quite small compared to the Variegated Meadowhawks it was hanging out and sparring with at what used to be called Hugh Ramsey Park in Harlingen Texas (now the Arroyo Colorado World Birding Center). If anyone knows what it actually is, please let me know via email or in the comments. Thanks.
This is another 1680mm equivalent field of view, hand-held macro, using the full optical zoom (840mm) on the Canon SX40HS and the 2x digital converter. I continue to be amazed a the quality possible. Images look good up to large viewing and medium print sizes. They fall apart at 1 to 1 resolution, but I don’t plan to view them or print them at that kind of resolution. The digital wizards at Canon have certainly produced a workable long lens solution in a very small package! And it is particularly effective at close range for these kinds of macro…since you get the image scale of 1680mm lens and the depth of field of a 150mm lens. Best of both worlds.
Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation (which is becoming my standard setting on the Canon).
Processed in Lightroom for Intensity and Sharpness.
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.
10/24/2011: Another Green Darner Tel-macro
Like I said a few days ago, the Green Darners are out in force in Orange County California. Here is another telephoto macro. This individual female had green where the previous female was mostly turquoise. I do not yet know enough about dragonflies yet to know what makes the difference.
Canon SX40HS at 840mm optical equivalent field of view plus 2x digital tel-extender for 1680mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160. 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.
9/24/2011: Antidote for the Rain, Monarch on Aster
I woke this morning to rain. Still raining. It rained most of the day yesterday and it’s raining now. Rain is predicted for this morning, and then thundershowers this afternoon. So, as an antidote for the rain, I offer this Monarch Butterfly on wild Aster from last Sunday’s excursion to Meadowbrook Marsh Sanctuary in Port Clinton OH.
The monarch is a big bright butterfly at any time, but put it against the contrasting purples of the Aster and it really pops. I chased this specimen along the edge of one of the grassy walks at Meadowbrook for 10 minutes or more, hoping for this shot.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode with the default zoom setting overridden. 669mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/400th @ ISO 160.
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.
9/13/2011: Bugs on Fern
There are lots of these Ruby Meadowhawks around in Southern Maine right now, and I have taken maybe too many of pics of them…question: “can you have too many pics of a Ruby Meadowhawk?” I could not resist this one, since the sun-lit fern makes such a great backdrop.
And, on the same theme, a tiny Hover Fly against a similar background.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode…auto zoom setting overridden. 1) 403mm equivalent field of view, f5.6 @ 1/250th @ ISO 160. 2) 309mm, f5.4 @ 1/640th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. Both images cropped for scale and composition.