photoartflightUnicorn Clubtail Dragonfly Warming On Rock
Posted on July 29, 2020
I found this Unicorn Clubtail dragonfly sunning on a warm rock. I usually never see Clubtail dragonflies in any of my places I go to photograph Dragons & Damsels. These images were taken with a Canon 400mm Canon DO lens with an extension tube and a 1.4x teleconverter on a Canon 7D. The wings on the bottom of the image look like there are 2 sets of wings on that side because of the shadow of the wings on the rock. 
Great Spreadwing Damselfly
Posted on May 13, 2020
I am still going through backup drives for images to post here. But at the same time I am also editing out images I do not need on my backup drives. Which is freeing a lot of room on these drives for more recent work. This is an image of a Great Spreadwing Damselfly. I was using a Canon 70-300mm DO lens (Diffractive Optics) at 300mm on a Canon 7D. I was surprised that lens worked so well on this subject. It is not the “sharpest” Canon zoom lens for fine detail, but is convenient, stabilized & lightweight to carry. Also much shorter, but wider than a “normal” 70-300mm lens because of the Diffractive Optics. It really helps to shoot “raw” files with this lens & use Adobe Camera Raw to pull out more detail and smooth out the nasties.
Praying Mantis Garden Close-ups
Posted on September 25, 2019
We seem to have had a lot of Praying Mantises in our Gardens this year. We also saw quite a few in local parks. This series shows some closeups shot with a 150mm Macro. Some I concentrated more on the head, others just overall shots. When you get really close it is interesting to see their eyes and you feel they are really looking at you as you photograph them. To keep softer non-distracting backgrounds I shot @ f/8 or f/11 and smoothed backgrounds as I was working on the files. I liked the Featured image best because it seemed to say “Who you looking at!”
Same location, Different Angle for lighter background
Damselfly Panorama
Posted on September 6, 2019
I like using a few different camera systems depending on what I am shooting. Or more likely, what I want to carry & lug around. If I am at a location working near the car, that is not usually a problem. But sometimes I just like walking around, but still want to photograph some interesting subjects that I might come across. Here I am using one of my m43 camera bodies with an adapted old style Canon FD 200mm Macro lens. On m43 cameras it is sort of equivalent (in easy terms) of using a 400mm macro an a full frame body. Instead of going to 1X magnification, because of the crop factor of the m43 system the FOV (Field Of View) is ~2X. This is a 3 image panorama. Luckily the Damsel co-operated for me.
Damselfly – Single Image
Damselfly 4img (overlapping) Focus Stack
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