I can tell I am getting serious about dragonflies. I bought a book: the Kindle edition of Dennis Paulson’s Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East, from Princeton Press. I run it on my Xoom Android Tablet, in full color, and it is a great resource. Such a lot to learn.

This is a Golden-winged Skimmer from Washington Oaks Gardens State Park south of Marineland FL. It is a stunning dragonfly any time of day, but when the early Florida morning sun wakes the orange on the body and, especially, on the wings, it is, I think, knock-your-eye-out beautiful.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.  1) 3) and 4) are at 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-extender) and 2) is at 1240mm (1.5x digital tel-extender). 1) f5.8 @ 1/400th @ ISO 200. 2) f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 100. 3) f5.8 @ 1/125th @ ISO 800. f5.8 @ 1/500th @ ISO 160.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.