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

Great Egret In Trees

We were coming back home from the grocery store and were going through the gated entrance for our condo community. I noticed this Great Egret in the trees above the small pond by our back entrance. I had my Canon 7D with me so after I entered through the gate I parked and walked back through the gate to take a few images of the Egret. The Featured Image was taken with a 300mm lens with a 1.4X teleconverter. I wanted to get a wider view to show more of the surrounding scene so I shot a 5 image Panorama to get what I wanted for the pano. I first shot top left, then top right, then bottom left, then bottom right. I finished my series by shooting the center just to make sure I had enough images for the pano and everything lines up correctly. I have found that having that center image helps the blending of the image.

Great Egret & Canada Geese Friends, 5 Image Panorama, Canon 7D, 300mm f/4 lens, Canon 7D

Needhams Skimmer Dragonflies @ Blackwater NWR

On our visit to the Blackwater Natiional Wildlife Refuge I was concentrating on photographing Landscapes, Birds & Dragonflies. It is taking a while to go through all the Raw files so I will be posting a few each day from those categories. This post is showing images of Needhams Skimmer Female Dragonflies.

Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, 5 horizontal Images Panorama, 300mm lens, 1.4X Telconverter, Canon 7D
Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 7D
Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 7D
Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 7D
Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 7D, 3 Image Panorama
Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 7D
Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 7D
Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 7D
Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, 6 horizontal images stacked vertically, Canon 7D
Needhams Skimmer Dragonfly, Female, Canon 300mm lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 7D

Eastern Pondhawks At Blackwater NWR

I am still going through images from our trip to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge Maryland. I had posted some of the bird images I had taken but I wanted to switch and post some Dragonfly images from the trip. All images were taken with a Canon 300mm lens with a 1.4x Teleconverter on a Canon 7D. The Featured Image is a Female Eastern Pondhawk.

Female Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly In-Flight. I was shooting @ 1/800 sec. @ f/11 to get some movement in the wings but have the Dragonfly body somewhat sharp.
Male Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly, f/11, 1/400 sec., Canon 7D, 300mm lens with 1.4X Teleconverter
Male Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly, f/11, 1/400 sec., Canon 7D, 300mm lens with 1.4X Teleconverter

Osprey FlyBy @ Blackwater NWR

A series of images of a close Osprey flyBy at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge Maryland.

All images were taken with a Canon 1D mkIV with a 1.4x Teleconverter.

Black Skimmer FlyBys & Skimming @ Brigantine Division

A series of images of Black Skimmers flying and skimming from previous trips to the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in Oceanville, NJ. The Featured image was taken with a Canon 1D mkIV with a 400mm DO lens & 1.4x Teleconverter

Black Skimmer FlyBy, Canon 400mm DO lens, 1.4X Teleconverter, Canon 1D mkIV
Black Skimmer FlyBy, Canon 400mm DO lens, 1.4X Teleconverter, Canon 1D mkIV
Black Skimmer FlyBy, Canon 400mm DO lens, 1.4X Teleconverter, 1D mkIV
Black Skimmer FlyBy, Canon 400mm DO lens, 1.4X Teleconverter, Canon 1D mkIV

Dragonfly Closeup With Telephoto lenses

The Featured Image is a closeup image of a male Blue Dasher Dragonfly resting on a stem. Image taken with a 400mm Canon DO lens with extension tubes to get closer focusing on the small subject Blue Dasher dragonfly but taken from a distance away. I found that using longer lenses with extension tubes for close focusing works well on these skittish dragonflies instead of macro lenses. You have a much longer working distance so your subject dragonfly does not get nervous & fly off giving you more time for shooting a variety of angles & compositions of images. And a bonus of using a 400mm lens or 300mm lens with extension tubes is you get very clean smooth blurred backgrounds. You can also add a 1.4x or 2x teleconverter for more working distance and even smoother backgrounds.

Bald Eagle Flying Closer

On a visit to Blackwater NWR I saw a Bald Eagle off in the distance. It was flying towards me so as it was getting closer I was tracking & taking images of it just in case it changed course. After I got a few images it veered off & flew away. But at least a got a few images of the Bald Eagle to post here.

Bald Eagle In Tree Portrait

On a previous visit to the Blackwater NWR we saw this Bald Eagle in a tree at the entrance to the Refuge. I thought this was going to be a Great Day for photographing Bald Eagles. After I went through the Entrance Gate I pulled over to get out of the car to photograph the Eagle. The Featured Image was taken when I got a little closer and is cropped for an Eagle Portrait. I got quite a few images before I continued on the Wildlife Drive.

Bald Eagle in tree by Wildlife Drive Entrance before I moved even closer

Another Cormorant Panorama From Brigantine

When photographing at the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in NJ, you often see large groups of Cormorants swim by in the channels along the Wildlife Drive. This group had about 92+ Cormorants in the Group. It is hard to get an actual count because some are under water as you are counting the group. I counted 92 Cormorants in the image, but some more were not visible as I was counting.

Small Group of Cormorants swimming by the shoreline. 400mm DO Lens, 1.4x Teleconverter, Canon 1D mkIV
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