[PIC_THREAD] Macro

Kevin.. I have never seen that blue abdomen dragon fly before!

I have as yet not managed to get any insect in flight properly wit her my macro
 
Kevin Clark said:
One trick I employed yesterday was to find a stick and jab it in to the ground at 45 degrees over the water and just sat and waited for them to come to me. Dragonflies tend to hunt from a suitable perch nearby so if you make one, they'll often use it once they spot it. Depends on the species though. The big hawkers seem to like to hang vertically from a tree or reed. The smaller chasers and darters sit on top of logs, twigs and reeds from what I've seen.
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I did have a bit of a google around for any kind of way to attract them but I didn't find anything. Saw some recommendations on how to catch them with a net and then cool them for a minute or two in order to make them sluggish but that sounds like a lot of work lol.

The stick method does sound interesting! Now I just need to find a stick :D
 
I hadn't seen them before either. Quite a striking blue and the females are yellow. It was a new pond that was dug in a local managed woodland about 18 months ago and it was pretty lifeless save for some water boatmen ever since but I think the dragonfly larvae take a couple of years to develop before they emerge so I think this is the first year for them at this pond. There were 2 males and a female flying around and the female was dipping her 'tail' in the water, presumably laying more eggs and a lot of aerial jousting going on with the males. Was cool to watch. And about 100yds away is a more secluded pond where I saw a southern hawker a year ago so hopefully a new one of those will show up later in the summer.

Catching them in flight is very tricky. You have to watch what they're doing for a while first. They often fly the same routes around the pond so you just need to be ready to track along that and hope you get one in focus! They often also hover briefly before landing. Hawkers sometimes move a bit like hoverflies in that they hover for a few seconds then move along a bit and hover again, checking out the corners of a lake. So you just need to wait for them to come round.

This is the best one I've ever shot.
IMG_5904 by pumazooma, on Flickr

It was only about 2ft away from me at the time, flying exactly the same circuit every 2-3 minutes for nearly 20 minutes so I got lots of chances to shoot him when he hovered in the same place each time.
 
A bugs life? Sad chap with a crash helmet. Or pilot goggles. Dive, dive!

11294893846_d20d36a35c_b.jpg
 
More from the weekend!

Not fantastically close but that means there's good DOF for the flappy fly thing

Friend of Flowers by Phal44, on Flickr


Spotted these flowers outside of a really nice garden. The garden is sometimes open to visitors but this wasn't one of those days so I had to make do with what flowers had escaped into the long grass over the wall

Not quite macro perhaps but it was taken with my 100mm so meh!

Purply Things by Phal44, on Flickr
 
Any ideas what these are? Don't seem to have the fixed wings of a dragon fly but their bodies don't look like Damselflies

Saw them land they were quite small so I couldn't see them well. They were a lot more interesting when I cropped in later at home. Kinda look a bit like baby dragonflies if it wasn't for the wings.

A little bit of insect romance by Phal44, on Flickr
 
More shots from this little nature reserve near me. It started a bit rainy but brightened up nicely as per the weather app on my phone which was nice :D

I finally got some shots of Dragonflies but kinda gave up trying to get those shots with my 100mm macro lens! These are with my 100-400mm which isn't exactly sharp :| Where's a 400mm macro lens when you need one?


1

Rainy Rain! by Phal44, on Flickr

2

Dragonfly by Phal44, on Flickr

3

Orangy Butterfly by Phal44, on Flickr

4

Bling Beetle by Phal44, on Flickr

5

Dragonfly by Phal44, on Flickr
 
Phal said:
Any ideas what these are? Don't seem to have the fixed wings of a dragon fly but their bodies don't look like Damselflies

Saw them land they were quite small so I couldn't see them well. They were a lot more interesting when I cropped in later at home. Kinda look a bit like baby dragonflies if it wasn't for the wings.

A little bit of insect romance by Phal44, on Flickr
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They're Sawfly, quite a few different types in the UK. I think they might be Tenthredo mesomela
 
Nice shots Phal. I think number 3 is a Large Skipper, number 4 is a Thick-kneed flower beetle (Oedemera nobilis) and number 5 is a Four Spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata). Skipper butterflies are nice ones to photograph, if you watch them carefully they fly around almost patrolling an area and land back on the same stems. If you spot one take a little bit of time to set up where it flew off and you'll often find them returning.
 
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Yes they're quite cool. The Thick-kneed flower beetle are amazing, very iridescent. Keep an eye out for Green Tiger Beetles (Cicindela campestris), they're quite odd looking :)
 
Some nice Dragonflies there :) What lens?

I have some to upload but I decided to sort this first. I filmed a Dragonfly for a while and caught it landing to eat what it just caught :)

Quality isn't fantastic but meh! It's a 100-400mm lens and it doesn't seem great at dealing with bright light :\ Here's the link



https://flic.kr/p/nUkNrw
 
Yesterday's shots


Finally got a Dragonfly with my 100mm F2.8L! I had to lean over some reeds/nettles and shoot with my arms out in front of me in liveview to get this close but it still looks better than my 100-400 I think (despite a fairly large crop)

1

Dragony Kinda Thing 5 by Phal44, on Flickr

2 - Having lunch

Dragony Kinda Thing 1 by Phal44, on Flickr

3

Dragony Kinda Thing 3 by Phal44, on Flickr

4

Dragony Kinda Thing by Phal44, on Flickr

5

A contender for the 'Bling Beetle' award by Phal44, on Flickr

6

Mr Flappyface by Phal44, on Flickr

7

Aye Aye Skipper 2 by Phal44, on Flickr
 
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