Photographing in My Sleep!

Having spent some time last weekend photographing dewy Banded Demoiselles early morning at Nethergong, I was keen to try and improve on the images if I could so on Wednesday evening just before dark, I arrived at Nethergong where I searched for a male Banded Demoiselle. I soon found a roosting individual and with a pot of reeds already in position nearby, I removed the Demoiselle and placed it on the reeds where I hoped it would spend the night. The plan was to get up early the next morning at 4am, drive to Nethergong, spend an hour photographing and then be back home in bed by 6am for an hour before I got up. A pretty mad plan but if you want the results, you have got to get out there. I woke up this morning at 3.30am where after getting dressed quickly, I was soon on my way. Despite the warm evenings, there has been plenty of dew on show early morning and with little or no wind, my chances were even better. I pulled up a few minutes later and was soon wanting to see if my target was still in position, it was. Even better that it was shining beautifully with dew and I got a bit of a soaking getting into position for some shots. At this time of day, there is not much light so I tend to use manual mode, ISO 400, f8 - f11 and in camera flash. This gives the desired light but with the dew, the flash can be quite harsh and can produce photos that do not look that appealing. I opted to use the tripod and spent the next 45 minutes or so taking a number of images of this stunning natural sight. With a few shots in the bag, it was back home and I was tucked up in bed for 6am for an hour. Having processed the shots, I am quite pleased with them but feel that I can still do better with them. I would like to be in a position where I can photograph them without the flash and with the sun on them and do I dare say, have the sunrise in the shot, now that would be nice. I will continue with this project if I can make the time and hopefully continue to learn a little each session. Hopefully the weekend will deliver the next chance for an early start.

Banded Demoiselle (male)