Dragonfly visiting my little isle

[MacroLuv]

For the first time on my isle I found many dragonflies.
They stayed for ten days and than gone away.
As I know they need a "sweet" water source for their reproduction.
I asume they were migrate temporarily because of fires in their habitats.



Model Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
Date/time original 02.08.2007 17:08:57
Shutter speed value 1/400 s
Aperture value f/7.1
ISO speed ratings ISO 200
Focal length 100 mm



This is a crop from the picture above.

[Erland R.N.]

Great pictures. You made some great observations, this is Sympetrum fonscolombii (a female), a dragonfly know from Africa and sounthern parts of Europe, and it is well known for it's migration habits.
Notice the blue underside of the eyes, which is not seen on other Sympetrum species.

cheers
Erland

[MacroLuv]

Erland, thanks for the great info and ID.
This year was hot so they felt here like in Africa.
I like the wing pattern shadow on her thorax and details of legs joints.

[beetleman]

You did an excellent job on these photos Nikola. very crisp and nice DOF. I love when I get some interesting information on the subject also.....an added delite from both of you.

[Ken Ramos]

Great images there Nikola. I was reading about Robber Flys and the article said that they eat these things too.

[MacroLuv]

Thanks Doug and Ken.
Yes Ken, you are right. I saw it with my eyes a couple of times. But attacks were always unsuccessful. Maybe Robberfly sometimes succeed but I didn't see it.

[Bruce Williams]

Nikola - IMO you've done a very good job with a difficult subject containing light, bright and reflective surfaces. I find yellow particularly difficult to capture and retain detail - is it just me or is there technical explanation?

DOF is really good at f/7.1.

Bruce

[puzzledpaul]

Splendid job, Nikola - clean 'n' crisp

pp

[MacroLuv]

Thanks Paul and Bruce.
Bruce, I think I was lucky with sunlight angle. And yellow color is mixed with shades of green in this case. Also I think f/7.1 could give a pretty good DOF if you hit it on right place. See my post with f/5.6.
Seems you have some problems with your new camera?
I've improved my skill with new camera gradually in two months.
In my experience it is harder to make a good macro with DSLR than with point and shot camera. But when you succeed it looks very very good.
Just keep shoting and things will come to place. One possible strategy is to make as much as possible shots of the same subject and than chose the best one.
Best wishes

[Walter Piorkowski]

Nikola, let me add my congrats. Very nice images.
Walt

[MacroLuv]

Thanks Walter, I was enjoying your marvelous myxsos photos also.