Blue Dasher Dragonflies

Dragonfly season will soon be ending but here are a series of Blue Dasher Dragonfly images from a series of different outings. The Featured Image was taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens on a Canon 1D mkIV, @f/8, 1/400 sec.

Blue Dasher Female, Canon 400mm DO lens, f/11, Fill Flash for Detail, Canon 1D mkIV
Blue Dasher Male, 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 7D, @ f/11
Blue Dasher Male, Canon 400mm DO lens, f/11, Fill Flash for Detail, Canon 1D mkIV @f/11
Blue Dasher Male, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter for 420mm, @ f/16, Canon R

Needham Skimmer Dragonflies – Part 2

A series of Needham Skimmer Dragonflies images taken at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge near Cambridge Maryland. All images were taken with a Canon 7D with a 300mm f/4 lens & 1.4x Canon Teleconverter. The Featured Image is a 5 Image Panorama of the Female Needham Skimmer Dragonfly.

Needham Skimmer Dragonfly, Female. Canon 7D, 300mm f/4 Canon Lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, f/11
Needham Skimmer Dragonfly, Female. Canon 7D, 300mm f/4 Canon Lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, f/11
Needham Skimmer Dragonfly, Female. Canon 7D, 300mm f/4 Canon Lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, f/11
Needham Skimmer Dragonfly, Female. Canon 7D, 300mm f/4 Canon Lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, f/11
Needham Skimmer Dragonfly, Female. Canon 7D, 300mm f/4 Canon Lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, f/11
Needham Skimmer Dragonfly, Female. Canon 7D, 300mm f/4 Canon Lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, f/11
Needham Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 7D, Another 5 Image Panorama, 300mm f/4 Canon Lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, f/11

Roseate Spoonbill Flyby

Roseate Spoonbills are one of my favorite Florida birds to photograph! Plus they are a large colorful bird that fills the frame & stands out in photos. In this image I really liked the outstretched wings showing the feather detail and the size of the wingspan. Their wingspan on average is 47 to 52 inches. Image taken at J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Florida a few years ago with a 300mm lens, 1.4X teleconverter on a Canon 7D.

Mating Dragonflies

Over a week ago we went to Davidsons Mill Pond Park to see if we could find some dragonflies to photograph before the end of Dragonfly season here. I was surprised to see so many Slaty Skimmers along with a variety of others still here. As I was setting up on the back area of the first small pond these two flew in and landed right in front of me. I was surprised since it was so late in the season. Also they were in the “wheel” position for mating. After my first few shots I moved in a little closer to photograph a 2 image pano for a more square image. The featured image is a single shot. The image below are 2 images, stacked for the final closeup image. I was using a 300mm lens with a 1.4X teleconverter. I was on the edge of the pond so could not get any closer.

2 image Pano, 300mm, f/11, blended in Photoshop.

Praying Mantises In The Garden

I was looking in our gardens for Praying Mantises to photograph. I found 2 fairly large ones on two different plants. The featured image is 7 images, focus stacked in Photoshop. I was using a 300mm lens with a 2x teleconverter. When doing focus stacking with live subjects you have to photograph your series of images quickly, because you can touch-up slight movement of your subject, but if there is a lot of movement it makes the blending of images much harder.

Prating Mantis_v2_300mm_2X_1DmkIV_43G0993

Smaller Praying Mantis, 2 Image Focus Stack, 300mm, 2x teleconverter

Immature Male Common Whitetail Dragonfly

When I was walking outside my home I saw this dragonfly in our gardens. So I got a camera to take some images. At first I thought it was a female Common Whitetail Dragonfly, but the dark spots on the wings were wrong. So I realized it was an immature male Common Whitetail Dragonfly. Image taken with a Canon 300mm lens with a 1.4x with a Canon 7D.

Common Whitetail_Immature_Male_v1_300mm_1_4X_7D

First image taken before moving a little closer

Immature Common Whitetail Male Dragonfly

On our photo walk at Davidsons Mill Pond Park, I noticed this Immature Common Whitetail male dragonfly warming on a rock. It had a cluttered background behind the dragonfly, so I shot 3 images wide open, f5.6, at different focus points. 1st on the left wing, 2nd on the body, then the right wing. When I was working on the files, I loaded the 3 images in one layered Photoshop file.  I selected all three layers and selected Auto-align, then auto-blend for the final merged image. When you do auto-blend Photoshop automatically blends what it thinks are the best areas to use for the final blended image. Sometimes you might need to do a tiny touch up here or there, but usually it does a pretty good job. Since I was using a tripod for these images they lined up nicely and I did not need much in the way of touch-ups on this image. I was using a 300mm f/4 with a 1.4x teleconverter. To keep the background smoother I was shooting wide open, but with a 1.4x teleconverter that would be @ f/5.6. Usually when I use a teleconverter, if there is enough light, I stop down a little more then I usually do to help with sharpness. On a 1.4x I stop down at least 1 f/stop, on a 2x teleconverter I stop down at least 2 stops (Again, if there is enough light). But on this series I wanted a smoother background so I did not stop down and left it @ f/5.6.

 

Rain Drops On Evergreen Branch

After the a rain storm I noticed raindrops on evergreen branches above our sidewalk. I shot a few versions, then decided to shoot a panorama showing the new growth and the raindrops underneath. A 5 image panorama, shot with a Canon 7D with 300mm f/4 lens. It seems like Photoshop does better aligning the images in closeup panos with a longer lens, plus I get softer & cleaner backgrounds this way.

 

Praying Mantis With Prey

I was looking for dragonflies in our gardens when I found this praying mantis with it’s bug meal. I was setup for dragonflies with a Canon 300mm f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. So I shot a series of images, handheld, to do a stacked multi-row panorama. I ended up with 7 images for my pano. 2 rows of 3 images and an extra shot for the center. The centered shot sometimes helps for a smoother blended area in the center of the composite layered Photoshop file. I loaded all files into 1 layered PSD file and let Photoshop align the files. Then I use auto-blend to blend all the layers and combine elements for the final file which goes to the top layer. I also save the Master Layered file (just in case I need to go back for a tweak here or there). I then flatten the file for the final image. At this point if I wanted, I would run the flattened file through Nik’s Detail Extractor, then use dFine to smooth out any added noise from the Detail Extactor.

Praying Mantis_v3_300mm_1_4X_300mm_7D_MG_1225Praying Mantis_v1_300mm_1_4x_7D_MG_1244

 

 

Golden-winged Skimmer Dragonflies

These Golden-winged Skimmer Images are from a previous trip to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland. It is a great Refuge to photograph in, lots of photo subjects. Especially in the warmer weather – Bald Eagles, Ospreys and of course Dragonflies! There are many types of Dragonflies here and some we do not usually see in New Jersey. So it is fun to photograph some different types of dragonflies instead of the usual dragons. There are a lot of areas for dragonflies throughout the Refuge, but my favorite spots at Blackwater are the first Observation Platform along the Wildlife Drive and the Wildlife Drive area with standing water on both sides of the Drive. The Visitors Center has gardens behind the building which also is a good spot for dragonflies. At the Observation Platform there are lots of parking spaces there and dragonflies are prevalent all along here on the sides of the Drive. The platform has a long ramp to the main platform so there are lots of Dragonflies around the base and by the vegetation as you walk up.

Golden-winged Skimmer_v2_BWR_8 18

Golden-winged Skimmer, female 

Golden-winged Skimmer_V3_BWR_8_18_MG_4874

Golden-winged Skimmer, male

Golden-winged_Skimmer_v1_BWR_MG_4548

Golden-winged Skimmer, female

Golden-winged Skimmer_MaleBWR 8_18_MG_4892

Golden-winged Skimmer, male