Capturing the Emergence......... Nearly!!

With the sun shining yesterday for most of the day, I was eager to see if any more Large Red Damselflies would emerge. I have moved my 'indoor' tank outside for now hoping that I might be able to get a few more photos as they emerge. By mid morning the sun started to move over the pond and I could see 1 Large Red Damselfly nymph sitting at the base of one of the stems. I was hoping that as it warmed up, it may want to emerge. I checked every now and then with no movement but late morning I looked out of the window to see it already at the top of the stem. I was soon in position but I think it may have been an exploratory visit for it soon moved back down the stem and into the water. The family arrived around lunchtime for dinner and the sharing of eggs and just as we sat down, I thought I would have one more check. As I looked down at the pond the nymph had already started to emerge in the warm sunshine. Its head and thorax were already out but after running back in and grabbing the camera, I was soon laying on my belly over the pond taking a number of photos of this miracle in action. I had positioned a number of stems so I could get a clean green background for the photos and it seemed to work well. I spent the next hour taking photos and running inside for something to eat and during the hour, the family come out to have a look. Even though they are not and odonata nut like me, they too were mesmerized about this little 'thing' coming out of 'that' and growing so big. They kept on checking it more than I did during the afternoon to see it colours coming through and I believe, really enjoyed the experience as this new life started. Although I missed the start of the action and I will have to try again for the complete emergence from start to finish on camera, I ended up with a very pleasing set of photos and the Canon 7d seems to perform very nicely indeed. Most shots were taken using AV mode, f8, ISO 400 with a good speed and the sun was directly behind me. A very nice hour or so and probably some of my best photos to date but as ever, I will try to push the boundaries and improve on the results. Its already nice and sunny again this morning but with family stuff planned and out for a few hours, I wonder what I may miss today!

'Emerging' Large Red Damselfly