Emerald emerged

[Erland R.N.]

A few photos from yesterday. I found a male Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea) which nearly had completed emergence, but still needed to expand the abdomen.


C. 5D, sigma 150
f/7.1, 1/125 s, iso 400, uncropped


C. 5D, sigma 150 + 2x sigma EX, sigma makroflash
f/20, 1/160 s, iso 400, 100 % crop


C. 5D, sigma 150
f/13, 1/200 s, iso 400, uncropped

With rubber boots filled with water and trouser completely wet, as the dragonfly was emerging 5 cm's above the water, I decided that this was enough macro for one day :-)

[cactuspic]

Wonderful shots Erland. Too bad you couldn't maintain focus on the eye Just harassing you abit Keep up the good work.
Irwin

[MacroLuv]

Great photographs Erland!
Definitely worth wet trousers!

With rubber boots filled with water and trouser completely wet, as the dragonfly was emerging 5 cm's above the water, I decided that this was enough macro for one day :-)

Important thing is that camera survived.
By the way, Erland, did you ever try to catch damselfly or dragonfly with hands? Do they bite?

[Erland R.N.]

Thanks for comments.

Yes, I have catched them by hand, but only a couple of times. Remember their wings have to be hardend before you should attempt it.

Back in '98 me and a friend experienced thousands of Aeshna mixta (Migrant Hawker) at a lake just where we lived. My friend, managed to grab one that perched on the ground. It managed to bite him in the finger with the result of blood appearing. Those thousands of Hawkers was what caught my interest in dragonflies, and I just keep on photographing, reading and studying all about them.

In a canoe last autumn in Sweden. one of my friend tried catching a Sympetrum (Darter) in the air with his hands. He succeded but hit it so hard that the head fell of and landed in the bottom of the canoe. So please be carefull :-)

[MacroLuv]

Thanks Erland!
Seems they have very sharp cutlery.
I think I'll keep looking at them only.

[beetleman]

Excellent photos Erland. I like the soft feel of the first one, it gives the impression of a naturalist watercolor painting. The eye is . The third picture I like because you captured the colors of the DF very nicely and you could count the wing veins if you had to .

[Ken Ramos]

All very nice Erland. I too like the first one. Very easy on the eyes and beautiful. I did not know these things could draw blood , though I have never attempted to catch one and besides they are quite fast as it is.

[karl-m]

Fantasitc images......i'll have to save some cash to get a flash gun.....

[Erland R.N.]

Thank you all.

The first one is taken with a cloud in front of the sun. When I'm lucky to get the subject in focus with large aperture in those situations, I feel that the images turns out great. But mostly I get shaken, out of focus or too much high iso noise

One thing that I noted in the third picture, is the lens effect from the wings on the green leaves. The shadows of the veins appear much thicker than the veins themselves. Usually you don't see this, and I think it's the result of the two layers of chitin that form each cell in the wings, that is not fully fused together yet, so early after emergence. They must form some kind of lens.