Every year around Memorial Day we get the great dragonfly invasion. Mostly Cobra Clubtails and Black-shouldered Spiny Legs at this time. They’re the earliest. So I sit on the dock in the backyard and try to capture the process. There are so many of them (dozens just on my little strip of shoreline), all over, everywhere that it can be hard to take in. I start shooting one and then another comes along in a better situation and I turn my attention there. Then another comes. It’s crazy and wonderful and I look forward to it every year.
Problem is, they only do it in full sun. They’re so vulnerable at this time that they need to get it over with quick. (you should see the birds pick them off…it’s kind of painful to watch) So having any kind of subtle shadows isn’t an option. Even if I used a diffuser which I’d have to either set up on some kind of stand (probably in the water) or have another person hold it. So I don’t bother.
I try show the exoskeleton of the larva stage with the newly emerged adult. This one is quite far along in the process which takes 30-60 minutes for them to be able to fly, another few hours to fully harden and develop adult colors.
Specific Feedback Requested
Seems like mostly landscape and bird photographers in here, but any suggestions for this kind of thing would be helpful. I prefer to sit on the dock rather than wade because of all the tiny things my galumphing around could injure or kill.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Lumix G9
Lumix G Vario 100-300 f4-5.6 lens @ 300mm (600mm equiv.)
f/6.3 | 1/800 sec | ISO 400
Handheld, dual IS
Lr processed to manage highlights, add texture and sharpness and manage the light/exposure on the adult and the husk. Slight crop because it was only more vegetation. Ps to remove a bright piece of old grass.
Very impressive shot, Kristen. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for photography, and quite an experience. You have great place to live. I really like the action you captured here (although I always feel for the prey). As for the harsh light, that is tough that that is when your dragonflies want to pose in your backyard. Have you tried using fill flash with a diffuser on it? For macro shots
That helps somewhat with the harsh shadows. You might could even put a polarizing filter on at the same time, and see if that also helps. I bought the KX-800 twin flash, and have been trying to find a diffuser that I am totally satisfied with for it. We only have one natural light source, so I try to use a diffuser over both flashes so that it looks more natural.
I would sure love to be able to have a few hours in your back yard shooting these guys. I don’t blame you for not wanting to wade in the water. Wishing you the very best in your endeavors to capture these. Memorial Day is not that far off.
A polarizer might help. Need to pick one up for that lens, but that’s no issue.
I have ZERO flash experience and so don’t own one of those either, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
As far as Northern Wisconsin goes, it’s pretty great even though no one thinks it might be because it’s a fly-over state. When my husband first got a sniff about a job out here he asked me what I thought about Wisconsin and I said “I don’t”. Ha. But we had an opportunity to move back to NH a couple of years ago and we refused. Now the company he consults for comes to get him in one of the planes every other week and he goes back and forth. Funny.
Kristen, I have never been to Wisconsin, and I would have answered like you did, “I don’t”, because for me, I don’t like cold weather, and I fall down in snow and ice. Have injured myself a few times. I’m so glad that it worked out for you both. Sounds like (other than the cold weather) a very nice place for your photography.
I think the polarizing filter is a good start. If you need the flash, then go for it, but there is another learning curve, say nothing of the cost. I much prefer natural light, but, I have found just giving a little fill flash helps in harsh light, and it stops my moving subject nicely, without having a high shutter speed. Wish you the best with it, and looking forward to your shots in a few months from the annual event with the dragonflies.
What I find interesting here are the connections still in place between the larval exoskeleton and the adult. For this reason I would have cropped more so we can see these even more clearly. In a situation like this it would also be fun to do a series of photos showing different stages of emergence, but one has to be really lucky to get there at the start, at least in the wild, and then really patient! Good shot.
Fill flash using TTL can make subtle improvements in the image. The BG is so close that the flash may actually make the background elements brighter than you desire. Have you tried using a white umbrella for shading the scene and then shoot from a tripod for the best sharpness? Dragonflies that have just shed will not move until the exoskeleton hardens. Most emerge in darkness to avoid birds. There’s not much glare in the scene so a polarizer may improve color saturation slightly. Nevertheless, a good natural history shot of this species. Comp looks fine as prersented…Jim
You can’t live up here without liking winter and I do. I x-country ski, snowshoe and winter hike. We did have a wicked cold snap for a couple of weeks though and that was a bit much. The Tomahawk airport weather station read -38 F one morning in February. That’s just up in town. After a week or so it went back to normal.
I can crop it a bit more and add that to the OP. Hang on & see if you like it better.
I did a quick video a couple of years ago - they weren’t serious intervalometer shots which I should have done, but just free-handed them.
I plan to set up my old camera on a good specimen emerging and try to get it from start to finish. That way I can use my current rig for grab shots.
If I remember rightly, I tried a tripod with this and gave up - it’s pretty awkward since the dock is only 4 feet wide, but I can always try again. I live on a river that’s dammed up and down stream from here so it’s like a lake with a little current. Not sure I’m up for standing a whole bunch of other gear around in it. It might work for those that crawl up the lawn and settle away from the water to change. Hm.
To my eye it looks much better cropped. But Jim’s point about having time to wait is a good one, so this year you could catch one early to avoid the bright background - or even relocate one before it has started emerging and then return to photo it in that good spot. Fill flash with diffuser attached to camera will help too, as the others have said. It sounds like you have a golden opportunity here, and plenty of time to set up some great shots this year.
