With a little while to wait yet for the dragonfly season to begin, I thought I would give myself another new project in photographing dragonfly and damselfly larvae from the comfort of my home from the fish tank. A few weeks ago I caught a few damselfly larvae, quite possibly Blue tailed and Azure Damselfly as well as a single Emperor Dragonfly larvae of about 12mm long. I have spent the past few evenings watching them in the tank and am hopeful to see the Emperor hunting at some point. After reading a few sites on photography through glass fish tanks I decided tonight to give it a go. I set up the tank with a few small stones and some weed as a background colour and waited for the Emperor nymph to move on to the stones. I already had the camera set up on the tripod and used the borrowed speedlite I had used on the Owls. Above the tank I positioned a small piece of wood going across the width of the tank and on this I put my phone with the light on making for some nice light in the tank. I wasn't sure of any settings and had a play around with them but in the end I seemed to have some success using manual mode, f11, ISO 400 and the speed set to 250. For a first attempt I am quite pleased with the results, the detail is quite good for such a small larvae and I am hopeful with some more reading and some advise that I can build on this and improve on these shots. Its certainly another world in there and nice to see them at such close range and be able to study them. If anyone has any experience in this type of photography, I would appreciate any advise on how to improve on the set up and shots.
Probable Blue tailed Damselfly
Emperor Dragonfly Larvae
Nice set, looks like your damsel is covered in some sort of rotifer
ReplyDeleteNice eyes, beautiful Marc.
ReplyDeleteA massive well done Marc,amazing detail.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see the results.
John.
Its a good start. Look forward to the next session. Might have to catch a few more species. Nice to know I can do this in the warmthof the home!!
DeleteNice work Marc, be great to see that Emperor emerging ;-)
ReplyDeleteBy the size of him, about 12mm, I think he won't emerge until next year. I'm hoping to find a larger one. Interesting to watch though.
DeleteTrail blazing stuff on the local photography scene Marc, well done and once again proof that you are in the wrong occupation. Much more comfortable than cruising the lanes after dark I imagine.
ReplyDeleteYou said it Derek. Very nice to be able to do this at home abd get some nice rewards as well as learning a bit as well...... plus warm tea and chocolates!!
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ReplyDeleteHi Mark, nice project, have you seen anything on the "meet your neighbours project", i know its mostly insects but i am sure theres articles about fish through glass.
ReplyDeleteIt will give you some ideas on lighting especialy using flash and theres Always youtube
Good luck
John
Absolutely fascinating Marc!
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