Posted on September 10, 2022
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.
Category: 300mm Canon f/4 lens, Blog, Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Brigantine NWR, Oceanville NJ, Canon 1.4X Teleconverter, Canon 1D MkIII, Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 7D, canon R, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel FL, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Insects, Plainsboro Preserve, yard & pond Tagged: Blue Dasher Dragonfly, canon 1.4x teleconverter series III, Canon 1D MkIV, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon 300mm f/4 lens IS, Canon 400 f/4 DO lens, Canon 400mm DO lens, canon 400mm f/4 DO, Canon 7D, canon R, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Dragonflys
Posted on July 27, 2022
Lately we have quite a few Eastern Amberwing Dragonflies in our yard. It is fun to watch them flying around in our gardens. For this post I am showing a series of Eastern Amberwing males. All images were taken with a Canon 300mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter on a Canon 7D.
Category: 300mm Canon f/4 lens, Amberwing Male Dragonfly, Blog, Canon 7D, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Insects, yard, yard & pond Tagged: Amberwings, canon 1.4x teleconverter series III, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, canon 300mm f/4 lens, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Eastern Amberwing, Eastern Amberwing Dragonfly, Male Amberwing, Male Eastern Amberwing dragonfly, yard, Yard Photo Subjects
Posted on July 15, 2022
When we got to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge we went to the nearest Observation Platform to see what was going on and to also get some panorama landscapes as the sun was just rising in the sky. On the Observation Platform I noticed this Double-Ringed Pennant Dragonfly on a grass stem along the Observation Platform that had a heavy coating of Dew Drops. I had to backup quite a bit because I had the 150-600mm lens on my Canon R camera. I shot a few images handheld @ 600mm but it was 5:30 in the morning and there was not much light. So I upped my ISO to 800 and shot a series of images wide open @ f/6.3 & 1/60 sec. Hoping 1 or 2 in the series would be sharp enough to use. It seemed to work out ok and got a few images sharp enough to use.
Category: Blackwater NWR, Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, canon R, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Favorite Locations, wildlife drive Tagged: blackwater National Wildlife refuge, Blackwater NWR, Blackwater Wildlife Drive, canon R, Double-Ringed Pennant Dragonfly, dragonfly, dragonfly photography, Observation Platform, Tamron 150-600mm lens
Posted on July 6, 2022
A series of Twelve-Spotted Skimmer Dragonfly images taken with a Canon 400mm DO lens with an Extension Tube added for closer focusing on a Canon 1D mkIV. I was also using a Canon 600EX-RT Flash with a Better Beamer Flash Extender for filling in the shadows & to get more detail on the Dragonfly. All images are full frame, not cropped. I was shooting @ f/8 or f/11 for a smoother clean background.
Category: Better Beamer Flash Extender, Blog, Canon 1D MkIV, Dragonflies, dragonfly, yard & pond Tagged: Better Beamer Flash Extender, canon 1D mk IV, Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 1D mkIV Camera, canon 400mm f/4 DO, Canon 600EX-RT, Canon flash, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Dragonfly closeups, dragonfly photography, Fill Flash Photography, Outdoor Fill Flash Photography, Twelve-Spotted Dragonfly, Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Twelve-Spotted Skimmer Dragonfly
Posted on June 30, 2022
A series of Blue Dasher Dragonfly images taken over a few years. The Featured Image was taken a few years ago and is a 2 image focus blend with a Canon 400mm DO lens on a Canon 7D and a small amount of Fill Flash to brighten the shadows. Subject Dragonfly was 16.7 ft away. When using Teleconverters I usually set my f/stop 2 stops down from wide open for a little more depth of field for sharpness but still have a smoother background. So using my 300mm f/4 lens with a 1.4x teleconverter the lens wide open would be @ f/5.6 because of the teleconverter. So I would set my f/stop @ f/11. If I was using my 400mm f/4 lens with a teleconverter I would probably stop down even more but not always.
Category: Blog, Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Canon 1.4X Teleconverter, Canon 7D, Damselfly, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Focus Stacking, Focus Stacking Images, Image Stacking, Insects, Stacked Images, yard & pond Tagged: Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Canon 400 f/4 DO lens, canon 400mm f/4 DO, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Dragonfly closeups, dragonfly photography, Dragonflys, Female Blue Dasher Dragonfly
Posted on June 28, 2022
I was going through my some of my back-up drives to clear up space for newer images. I am trying not to add even more drives that I have to deal with! As I was clearing up space I was finding interesting images that I have not posted here. These 2 images are of a Twelve-Spotted Skimmer dragonfly that was visiting my pond at my old home years ago. Both images are a series of 5 images focused at different points along the wings, tail & head. I used to use this technique when I could not get closer to my subject Dragonflies because they were out in the middle of my pond. I lowered my camera to look a little more up and to get a more colorful background on the Featured Image. I was using a Canon 7D with a 400mm DO lens with a Canon Flash with a Better Beamer Flash Extender to fill in more details on the Dragonfly. I was also using stacked Teleconverters with extension tubes in between so I only had a limited in-focus window. Arranging the Teleconverters & Extension Tubes in different orders or different size Extension Tubes gives you different zones of focus. So it takes a little practice to get used to using this technique for predictable results! The Dragonfly was 15.4 feet away (according to the Raw Data). The focused-stacked images were loaded into a Photoshop file and auto-aligned & auto-blended for the final images. The images of the Camera Setup showing the Extension Tubes & Teleconverters placement were on a Canon 1D MkIV. I did not have an image showing the 7D with this setup!
Category: Blog, Canon 1.4X Teleconverter, Canon 1D MkIV, Canon 7D, Closeup Photography, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Favorite Locations, Focus Stacking, Focus Stacking Images, Image Stacking, Panorama & Stacked Images, Uncategorized, yard & pond Tagged: Better Beamer Flash Extender, Canon 1D MkIV, Canon Teleconverters Canon Extension Tubes, dragonfly, Dragonfly closeups, dragonfly photography, extension tubes, fill flash, image blending, image focus stacking, Image Stacking, image stacking with photoshop, Stacking Teleconverters, Twelve-spotted Skimmer
Posted on June 22, 2022
We went to Davidsons Mill Pond Park to take a walk & maybe see if I could get a few Dragonfly images to post here. It was fairly quiet with most of the Dragonflies far out in small pond. Then we went down to the Larger Pond and saw quite a few Dragonflies but again not close by to photograph. But in the end I managed to get a few images to post here. The Featured Image of a Common Whitetail Dragonfly was taken with a Panasonic 100-300mm m43 lens @ 300mm. (Full Frame Camera Equivalent Field of View ~600mm).
Category: Blog, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Insects Tagged: common whitetail, common whitetail dragonfly, Davidsons Mill Park, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies @ Davidsons Mill Pond Park, dragonfly, Male Common Whitetail Dragonfly, Olympus OM D Mk I, panasonic 100-300mm, Panasonic 100-300mm lens
Posted on April 19, 2022
It will not be long before we start seeing Dragonflies & Damselflies here in NJ. These are some of my favorite photo subjects. The images here were taken years ago at my pond at my old home. These were taken with an old 200mm Canon FD Manual focus macro lens adapted to a m43 Panasonic GH2 Camera or a Canon 400mm DO Lens with extension tubes for closer focusing. FOV of the Canon FD lens on a m43 body gave me the equivalent of a 400mm Macro lens. The Featured Image is a Damselfly with a raindrop on it’s head.
Category: Blog, Blue Dasher, Bugs, Canon 1D MkIV, Damselflies, Damselfly, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Insects, yard & pond Tagged: 200mm Canon FD macro lens, Blue Dasher, Blue Dasher Dragonfly, canon 1D mk IV, canon 400mm f/4 DO, Canon extension tubes, Damselflies, Damselfly, dragonfly, dragonfly photography
Posted on July 15, 2021
I was going through my backup hard drives cleaning out unneeded files when I found this image of a male Painted Skimmer Dragonfly. This was taken at my pond years ago with a 300mm f/4 lens on a Canon 7D. Image taken @ f/11 to try to get a little more detail in the far wingtips.
Category: Blog, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Insects, yard & pond Tagged: canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, Canon 7D, Dragonflies, dragonfly, painted Skimmer dragonfly, Pond
Posted on July 13, 2021
Another series of images of one of my favorite dragonflies, the Blue Dasher Dragonfly. These were taken over quite a few years and lots of locations. Almost all were taken with a Canon 1D mkIV with a 400mm DO lens. Some with 1.4x or 2X Teleconverters for added reach since they were out a ways in a pond or stream.
Category: Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Brigantine NWR, Oceanville NJ, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Equipment, Insects, Nature Still Lifes, Plainsboro Preserve, Stacked Images, yard & pond Tagged: Better Beamer Flash Extender, Canon 1D MkIV, canon 400mm f/4 DO, Canon 400mm f/4 DO lens, Canon extension tubes, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Dragonfly closeups, dragonfly photography