photoartflightCommon Whitetail Dragonflies From Audubon Plainsboro Preserve
Posted on June 26, 2021
We went to get a walk at the Audubon Plainsboro Preserve so I just took a camera along in case I saw some interesting Dragonflies along the walking paths. I saw quite a few Damselflies along with many Dragonflies on this visit. The Cicadas were not as noisy as previous trips with many just laying on the ground along the paths. The Featured Image is a handheld 5 image Focus Stacked image of a Female Common Whitetail Dragonfly. As I was shooting my series of images it flew off before I could photograph the Near & Far wingtips but I thought it was still interesting. If the Dragonfly is horizontal to me I usually start my handheld multi-image Focus-Stacked Images with the main body and then the Far Wing Tips and then the Near Wing tips. Lately I am also shooting with an f/stop of f/5.6 or f/8 (Depending on the lens & Teleconverter I am using and the Camera Body) to get a smoother background. I used to just shoot @ f/16 or f/22 to get the whole Dragonfly in Focus, but then I usually had a busy distracting background to deal with.
Common Whitetail Dragonflies From Davidsons Mill Pond Park
Posted on June 11, 2021
We went to the Audubon Plainsboro Preserve looking for dragonflies and any other interesting subjects we could find to photograph. We found a male & female Common Whitetail Dragonfly in 2 different locations along our walk. The Featured Image is a Female Common Whitetail Dragonfly 2 shot focus stack @ f/8. I focused first on the head & then focused on the tail. Then blended the 2 images in Photoshop for the final image. By shooting 2 images @ f/8 and combining the 2 images I had the depth of field to get the head & tail in focus and still have a somewhat smoother background I wanted without getting a more cluttered looking background. Usually I would use f/5.6 instead of f/8 but I only wanted to use 2 images in case the dragonfly flew off. All images in this post were taken with a Canon 7D with a 300mm f/4 lens & 1.4X Teleconverter.
Female Common Whitetail Dragonfly, f/ 5.6. Showing smoother uncluttered background but the tail sharpness is softer than the 2 image stacked image.
Female Common Whitetail Dragonfly @ f/11, 300mm, 1.4x teleconverter. Showing even at f/11 the tail sharpness is softer than the 2 image focus stacked image.
Immature Male Common Whitetail Dragonfly, 300mm, 1.4x teleconverter, @ f/8, Canon 7D, showing smoother, uncluttered background.
Immature Male Common Whitetail Dragonfly, 300mm, 1.4x teleconverter, @ f/16, Canon 7D, showing a more cluttered distracting background.
Immature Male Common Whitetail Dragonfly
Posted on August 23, 2020
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.
First image taken before moving a little closer
Immature Common Whitetail Male Dragonfly
Posted on August 10, 2020
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.
Dragonflies From Davidsons Mill Pond Park
Posted on July 10, 2019
Some Dragonflies from a recent walk at Davidsons Mill Pond Park. Featured image is a Blue Dasher (male). All images captured with a Canon 1D MkIV with a 300mm f/4 lens & 1.4X Teleconverter.
Another Blue dasher – Male
Eastern Pondhawk – Female
Eastern Pondhawk – Female
Eastern Pondhawk – Male
Slaty Skimmer Male
Common Whitetail Male
Widow Skimmer – Female
Eastern Amberwing – Male
Calico Pennant – Male
Widow Skimmer – Female
Widow Skimmer – Male
Dragonflies From Davidson’s Mill Pond Park
Posted on June 30, 2019
We went to a local park to look for Dragonflies or other investing subjects to photograph. It seems like it is a slow start for dragonflies at this local park compared to other years. But we did manage to photograph a few different types. It was still fun to see what we could find.
Blue Dasher – male
Eastern Pondhawk – Female
Eastern Pondhawk- Male
Common Whitetail- Male
Slaty Skimmer – Male
Common Whitetail Dragonflies
Posted on July 10, 2018
We saw quite a few Common Whitetail Dragonflies while we were at Davidson’s Mill Pond Park. Here are a few images from the many we saw. It is interesting at the small pond, which you can walk almost completely around, you tend to see many of one or two types in certain areas but not many in other areas. It seems certain types like certain areas. Then you see really large dragonflies constantly zooming around the center above the Lily pads. Overall they are fun to watch. I guess I should post a few different photo subjects and take a break from dragonflies.
Common Whitetail Dragonfly
Posted on June 4, 2018
We went for a walk at a local park looking for Dragonflies. We saw quite a few but not many close enough to get good photos of them. This year, so far, they seem wary and stay at a distance. This Common Whitetail landed close by on a piece of wood on our way out. Shot with a 300mm lens setup for close focusing for Dragonflies.
