Yesterday I visited Langdyke Countryside Trust's Swaddywell Pit Reserve near Peterborough, UK to photograph pond insects - where observed and photographed a pair of Azure Damselflies in tandem.
A very windy day with fast changing sunny / cloudy lighting conditions.
In the next three images the male is in 'sentinel position' guarding against predators whilst the female is ovipositing amongst the floating foliage.
In the next photo the Sun is projecting an image of the female's wing onto the leaf.
Apparatus: Nikon 1 J5 / Nikon 1 70-300 VR / third party auto extension tubes; ancient Gitzo TATALUX mini tripod (just 15" long when collapsed); Novoflex fork mount. The J5 camera does not have a built-in viewfinder and Nikon did not make provision for a supplementary finder - hence use of the Zacuto optical finder to magnify the monitor's live view image. The combination is lightweight and can be used with just one hand when supported on the fork mount. The camera's 1" sensor has a crop factor of 2.7x thus the 300mm zoom is equivalent to 810mm full frame.
The Pentax 6.5x21 'close-focus' binocular is very useful for observing / searching for, insects on the pond foliage - and due to the bino's relatively low magnification and low weight can be used one-handed. I've also discovered that by attaching one large diameter supplementary close-up lens to the front objectives (they have a total width of just 7cm), the binocular converts to a usable low power stereo microscope.
All images taken using the 300mm zoom setting (810mm FF equivalent) and are 'as shot' i.e. 'as framed' with no cropping. All images taken at f5.6 maximum aperture and ISO 200 or 400 … shutter speeds c 1/500 - 1/1250 depending on the changeable light.
Best wishes
dunk
Azure Damselflies in tandem, Swaddywell Pit Peterborough UK
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
-
- Posts: 251
- Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:50 pm
- Location: Cambridgeshire UK
Azure Damselflies in tandem, Swaddywell Pit Peterborough UK
And now for something completely different.
-
- Posts: 251
- Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:50 pm
- Location: Cambridgeshire UK
^^^ Thank you … The Nikon 1 J5 is a very underestimated camera - as is the Nikon 1 70-300 VR lens. 'Dismissed' by some because of its 1" sensor but so useful and eminently portable. Consider how large a FF 189-810mm lens would be if available (there are none) ; the Nikon 1 70-300mm is equivalent to it.
dunk
dunk
And now for something completely different.