Friday 6 February 2015

Back to the Tank!


After my first real session at home earlier in the week photographing an Emperor Dragonfly larvae in the tank, I thought I would try another go with a Damselfly nymph measuring about 12mm in length. I was surprised with the results considering I am quite new to this type of photography but as ever, if you try out different settings and do a bit of research, the shots will eventually come. I think this Damselfly nymph is an Azure Damselfly but please correct me if I am wrong. In the shots zoomed in, there are 7 sections to the antennae as well as spots behind the eye, all features pointing to possibly this species. The caudal lamellae are slightly pointed rather than rounded and there does appear to be some banding on the femur. After introducing the nymph to the tank it soon settled on the stones I had put in where I was able to take a number of shots showing off some of the nice detail we would not normally see with the naked eye.



Azure Damselfly Nymph

Again the shots have not come out too bad using manual, f11, ISO 400 and the speed set to 200. Hopefully I can continue to build on this and produce a nice portfolio of dragonfly and Damselfly nymph photos. I think next time I will try a few experiments with background colours. Not sure if White will work with reflections etc but it may show off the nymphs better but I also like the natural look to some of the shots I have already done. Weather dependant, I will hopefully be on the look out at the weekend for a large Emperor dragonfly nymph to photograph in the tank. I think I could get some nice shots and detail on one of these with my current set up, time will tell!



Azure Damselfly Nymph

3 comments:

  1. I quite like the Green background Marc :-) keep the images coming!

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    1. All a bit trial and error at the moment. Tried the same settings this afternoon in a bright conservatory but shots all dark! Seems to be better in a darkened room with tank illuminated.

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