Posted on September 7, 2021
Here in NJ Dragonfly season will be ending soon. I am seeing fewer Dragonflies & Damselflies at our local parks, Wildlife Refuges and even our yard. Here is a collection of Blue Dasher Dragonfly images from a variety of local Parks & Wildlife Refuges. The Featured Image was taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens, Canon 2X Teleconverter, Canon 1D mkIV @ f11 & with Fill Flash. Dragonfly distance from camera ~15 feet. Some images were also taken with Extension Tubes on the lens, but Extension Tubes do not show in the RAW Data in Adobe Bridge so I did not list them in the image info on each image.
Category: Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Brigantine NWR, Oceanville NJ, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Oceanville NJ, Plainsboro Preserve Tagged: Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher Closeups, blue Dasher Dragonflies, Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Blue Dasher Face, Blue Dasher Female, blue dasher Female dragonfly, Blue Dashers, Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 2X teleconverter, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon 400mm f/4 DO, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon 7D, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter
Posted on August 3, 2020
I noticed a male Blue Dasher on the top of a Gladiola in our garden as I was looking out the window. So I went out to get some images to post. It has been unusually extra hot here in NJ, so we have not gone to any of the local parks lately. As I was inching closer to the Dasher, it flew off, but quickly returned to the same spot. After doing that multiple times it finally stayed on the tip of the tall plant. I guess it began to tolerate me as I was inching closer. I was hand holding my camera, but I shot a series of focus points along the dragonfly for image stacking. The Blue Dasher was close to the side of my home so I was shooting wide open to have a smoother background. This eliminated the shadows under the rows of siding that would have given confusing rows of darker stripes to the background. I was using a Canon R with a Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro and a Sigma 2x teleconverter. So with the 2x teleconverter, my wide open f/stop was f/5.6. I manually focused a series of focus points from wingtip to wingtip plus close ups of the face. I was surprised the Blue Dasher did not fly off and allowed me to get right in it’s face, so to speak. So I tried many different focus stacks to see which might work better. Here are a few images from the series.
First focus stacked image, Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro, with Sigma 2x teleconverter, 5 images, Canon R @ f/5.6. With focus stacking shooting @ f/5.6, I eliminated the shadows under the rows of siding behind the dragonfly.
Dasher Image (2 images) concentrating on face, legs, plant tip & front of wings.
Category: Blog, Dragonflies, Favorite Locations, Focus Stacking, Gardens, Image Stacking, Insects, Panorama & Stacked Images, Photo Tips, Stacked Images, Tips & Techniques, yard & pond Tagged: Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Blue Dasher Face, blue dasher image stackimg, canon R camera, image stacking wit photoshop cc, Sigma 150mm f/2.8 macro, Sigma 2X Teleconverter