photoartflightDragons & Damsels Panoramas
Posted on June 19, 2020
Panoramas are not just for landscapes! I enjoy shooting panoramas for a variety of subjects. Plus they look interesting when you print them very large! Here are a series of multi-image Dragonfly & Damselfly Panoramas. I was using Canon & Panasonic Cameras, with a variety of lenses. The featured Blue Dasher Dragonfly image was 5 handheld images taken with a Canon 300mm lens, with extension tubes @ f/9, 1/250th sec. Then assembled and blended in Photoshop. When shooting panoramas handheld, I tend to overlap even more just to be safe & that I got enough overlap to blend nicely. I may not need them, but it helps if you do need more images when assembling them. The images below have some details on exposure & images shot per panorama.
Eastern Forktail Damselfly, 4 image panorama, Panasonic GH2 with adapted Canon FD 200mm Manual Focus Macro lens, blended in Photoshop.
Blue Dasher, Female – 400mm DO lens with extension tubes, Canon 1D mkIV, 3 image panorama, f/11, 1/250
Eastern Forktail Damselfly, 3 image panorama, Panasonic GH2 with adapted Canon FD 200mm Manual Focus Macro lens
Teneral Eastern Forktail Danselfy
Posted on September 1, 2015
I saw this damselfly flying awkwardly out of the lily pads and landed on a Black-eyed Susan in front of me. It was a newly emerged Eastern Forktail Damselfly. They are almost transparent in color on the wings and body and are very unsteady in flight. They will usually stay in one place for a while until their wings stiffen up. Here I concentrated on closeups of the head. I also tried image stacking and side views to show the almost transparent color of the Teneral stage and will post them later.
Already to start darkening up, loosing some of the transparent color.
Damselfly with Water Drop
Posted on August 6, 2015
This Eastern Forktail Damselfly had a large drop of water on its mouth which acts like a magnifying glass, giving an interesting view.
Damselfly With Raindrops – Stacked Images
Posted on August 1, 2015
Here are examples of stacked Damselfly images to show the difference between stopping down to f/22 or f/32 for depth of field and maximum focus of the subject Damselfly resulting in a busier background , or using f/5.6 or f/8 with stacked focus points giving depth of field and focus of the Damselfly and yet yielding a smoother looking background. All examples were aligned and stacked in Photoshop. One “BIG” challenge is hoping the damsel does not move or “flyoff” before you are done. The female Eastern Forktail stands out against the green soft background more than the bluish male. Focus Stacking is great for maximum depth of field and focus on your subject if that is what you are trying to convey. There are times when a narrower depth of field is more “Artsy” or “Softer” look and gives a different feeling for what you are trying to show.
Male Eastern Forktail shot @ f/32 for maximum depth of field in “one” shot. Showing “busier” distracting background around the damselfly.
14 image “stack” shot at f/5.6.
Wider view of above subject using a shorter layered stack.
9 image stack shot at f/5.6.
Non-Stacked Image shot at f/5.6 showing shallow depth of field on the Damselfly, but yielding an uncluttered background. But does give the main focus on face.
Simple 2 image “short” stack. Subject was fairly flat to the camera sensor plane.
Teneral Eastern Forktail Damselfly
Posted on July 4, 2015
I found this Teneral Eastern Forktail Damselfly that had climbed up this plant after it had emerged from its nymph stage out of the pond. It is almost transparent in this stage, lacking a lot of its final coloring. Looking very bland it just hangs here as it’s wings are still limp. In a short time they will firm up and be able to fly off.
Eastern Forktail Damselfly on Grasses
Posted on July 8, 2014
I was photographing Damselflies in the evening. When the sun goes down and starts getting cooler, the damselflies head to the tall grasses around the pond. Once they get used to you, they stay more in the open giving you some good photo opportunities. You need either a flash or high ISOs unless it is a very calm evening with no breeze.
Eastern Forktail Damselfly on Tall Grass in Evening. Canon EOS 7D with Sigma 150mm OS f/2.8 Macro, Gitzo 1325 Tripod, Available Light, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO 800. Purposely underexposed a little for faster shutter speed, then open up shadows in Adobe Camera Raw & sharpen and reduce noise.
I was not using a flash on these, so I purposely underexposed the Raw image to get a higher shutter speed because there was a slight breeze and they were swaying with the breeze,. Then in Adobe Raw I lightened up the exposure, reduced the noise and sharpened the image. I was using a Canon 7D body which has a little more noise to start with, so I only underexposed by about 1 stop.
Closeup Vertical Composition of Eastern Forktail Damselfly on Tall Grass in Evening. Canon EOS 7D with Sigma 150mm OS f/2.8 Macro, Gitzo 1325 Tripod, Available Light, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO 800, Purposely underexposed a little for faster shutter speed, then open up shadows in Adobe Camera Raw & sharpen and reduce noise.
