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Handheld shot of a Large Red damselfly in the garden pond. With Covid-19 restricting travel and not being able to go out anywhere, I decided to spending more ti...
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Handheld shot of a Large Red damselfly in the garden pond. With Covid-19 restricting travel and not being able to go out anywhere, I decided to spending more time looking closely at the tremendous diversity of wildlife in my own garden. Not being able to go out under lockdown doesn't mean you can't take photos :)
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cameraCanon EOS 5DS R

settings Aperture f/16 ISO 400 Shutter 1/200 Focal Length 100/1 

locationOrpington, Kent, GB

upload_dateMay, 2020

Views

2251

Likes

Awards

Winner in Dragonfly Photo Challenge
Polaroid Snap Touch
Peer Award
dminspiredfotos carolcardillo bennyskoglund_7227 Katie_J_West sophiedv alecsmart fernandel +45
Absolute Masterpiece
JayneBug jyrkiholm_2113 TracyDreyer MjBain shannoncrowe Turtlelady68 micHELL666 +23
Magnificent Capture
JJackRonalds marysorberdye grannysharon nathaliemedeiros jensen9cat sigridbh Oveone +10
Superb Composition
MiyoJergen AbpPhotography VLJ_PHOTOGRAPHY bjoernbartsch jonasweiss marcobertazzoni gwendcaldwell +8
Top Choice
MPav MichiganTravelenGirl cherylhealy christystewart_5923 peggyannkennedy tiagotoms Kimca +2
All Star
Joecas reggaedancer thatunicorngal deekaycee KonczTibor84 estercastillo08 Alla_Akantova +1
Superior Skill
GypsysPhotography Moonpies2018 mcampi Willard_Hutt Pjerry misterscott
Outstanding Creativity
OBRonTyan msd0707 CinnfullySouthern debbiechauvinmiller photographyhutt TrishM
Genius
Confalonieri
Virtuoso
imagesbyPattiC

Emotions

Impressed
Josephb marlonporter grahamgall RAPJones SonjaJulia Chelss_photographs TrishM +9
Happy
JanHalls billiefromthebeach IBCPhoto ricklecompte Criswell nielsstjernborg Lyndare +3

Top Ranks

Below The Knees Photo Contest 2023Top 20 rank
Calling The Wild Photo ContestTop 30 rank
Magnified Marvels Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Magnified Marvels Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Wildlife Wanderlust Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
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My Best Shot Photo Contest Vol15Top 30 rank week 1
Flash Addict Photo ContestTop 30 rank
Tiny Nature Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Macro Vibes Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Wildlife Friends Photo ContestTop 30 rank
Wildlife Friends Photo ContestTop 30 rank week 1
My Favorite Animal Photo ContestTop 30 rank
My Favorite Animal Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
My Best Shot Photo Contest Vol13Top 10 rank
My Best Shot Photo Contest Vol13Top 10 rank week 1
Mother Nature Photo Contest 2021Top 10 rank
Mother Nature Photo Contest 2021Top 10 rank week 1
Photography Awards 2021Top 10 rank
Photography Awards 2021Top 10 rank week 1
My Best Capture Photo Contest vol2Top 10 rank
My Best Capture Photo Contest vol2Top 10 rank week 1
Tiny Subjects Photo ContestTop 20 rank
Tiny Subjects Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
The Collection ProjectTop 10 rank
The Collection ProjectTop 10 rank week 1
The Collection ProjectTop 10 rank week 1
Small Animals Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Small Animals Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Discover The Wildlife Photo ContestTop 20 rank
A Single Subject Photo ContestTop 30 rank week 1
Capture Mother Nature Photo ContestTop 30 rank
Capture Mother Nature Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
The Animal Planet Photo ContestTop 10 rank
The Animal Planet Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
My Best Capture Photo ContestTop 30 rank
My Best Capture Photo ContestTop 30 rank week 1
The Creators ExhibitionTop 30 rank
The Creators ExhibitionTop 30 rank week 1
Animal Kingdom Photo Contest vol2Top 10 rank
Animal Kingdom Photo Contest vol2Top 10 rank week 1
Celebrating Nature Photo Contest Vol9Top 20 rank
Celebrating Nature Photo Contest Vol9Top 20 rank week 1
ViewBug Homepage Photo ContestTop 20 rank
ViewBug Homepage Photo ContestTop 20 rank week 1
Tiny Things In Nature Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Single Subjects Photo ContestTop 30 rank
Single Subjects Photo ContestTop 30 rank week 1
Macro Captures Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Macro Captures Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
photographyawards2020Top 10 rank
photographyawards2020Top 10 rank week 2
photographyawards2020Top 10 rank week 1
World Photography Day Photo Contest 2020Top 10 rank
Picture Insects Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Picture Insects Photo ContestTop 10 rank week 1
Macro Monsters Photo ContestTop 10 rank
Monthly Pro Photo Contest Volume12Top 30 rank
Monthly Pro Photo Contest Volume12Top 30 rank week 2

Categories

7 Comments |
Joeandkibo
 
Joeandkibo August 27, 2020
Congratulations on the win! Well deserved, great shot
davidscottrobson PRO
davidscottrobson August 27, 2020
Thanks!
harsha0717
 
harsha0717 December 07, 2020
marvellous
davidscottrobson PRO
davidscottrobson December 07, 2020
Many thanks :)
Pjerry
 
Pjerry January 06, 2021
Marvelous.

You have given 2020 a positive swing that is really (nice) positive, a contribution to the Year 2020 Collection. As always, the competition will be tough, which, as an added consequence, makes the victory taste very sweet. Good luck and probably for the … time: Happy New Year and stay healthy in 2021!
davidscottrobson PRO
davidscottrobson September 12, 2021
Many thanks - it's been a tough year & a half both photographically, and in terms of the pandemic. I am sorry for the late reply but I didn't see your message - thank you and I hope 2021 has been good to you as well. David
deekaycee Ultimate
 
deekaycee August 26, 2021
outstanding! Congrats on your challenge win!
davidscottrobson PRO
davidscottrobson September 12, 2021
Many thanks - I didn't realise I'd won the challenge as I was away at the time :)
marysorberdye Ultimate
 
marysorberdye March 01, 2022
Awesome!~
Joecas
 
Joecas July 06, 2022
Wonderful expressive love feeling ,This is a wonderful shot !!
HuaweiP30Lite
 
HuaweiP30Lite February 16, 2023
As if the little pretty thing sticks its head out and says "Hi! What's up?"

Submitted to Photo Contests

Tags

#animal #invertebrate #Honey Bee #bee #insect #andrena #hornet #wasp #damselfly #dragonfly #large red damselfly #macro #handheld #Lumiquest #Lumiquest Softbox #canon #eos #EOS 5DSR #Canon EOS #Canon 100mm L #uk #england #kent #pond #pond life #eyes #nature #lockdown
See all

Behind The Lens

Location

I took the photo by the pond in my back garden which is in Kent in the United Kingdom. I built the pond to bring wildlife into the garden & it's proven quite handy as at the moment, I can't go anywhere because of the lockdown.

Time

It was taken during my lunch-break around noon.

Lighting

I can't think of anything exciting to say other than it was a very bright sunny day with quite harsh light that was reflecting off the wood of the pond wall.

Equipment

I handheld a Canon Eos 5dsr with a Canon 100mm L. I had a Raynox 5320 pro attached to lens which really narrowed down the depth of field. I also used a Canon 600EX II - RT flash Lastolite 'Ezybox Speed-lite 2. I also had half of a plastic cup taped to the lens to try and diffuse the light a bit more.

Inspiration

I love macro photography - it's something that can be done anywhere, including your back garden/yard. I love showing how intricate and fascinating these insects are. The fact that there are a few people who like the photo and that these photographs help people appreciate how amazing these creatures are, is inspiration enough for me.

Editing

I cropped the image and applies a high pass filter to sharpen it a little, then some noise reduction - all in Photoshop. I did some amendments to the temperature in Lightroom as the wall of my pond is a light brown oak and it was reflecting the light and given the image quite an orange-brown tint & I didn't have time to adjust the white balance in-camera.

In my camera bag

I usually carry a Canon Eos 5dsr,Canon 100mm L, a Raynox 5320 pro, a Canon 600EX II - RT flash, a Lastolite 'Ezybox Speed-lite 2, some additional diffuser material, a 3 Legged Thing 'Brian' Tripod (as it's the incredibly stable & lighweight - and folds down to about 35-37cm, so it'll fit in any bag I have) although I prefer to shoot handheld where possible, 3x canon batteries, several 32 - 64GB SD cards (as if an SD card fails/corrupts, it means I don't lose many shots when compared to a 128-256GB card). If I'm going further afield like when i'm in South East Asia; I'll bring a Sony A7R ii, Sony 20mm G, Sony 24-105mm, a Benro 100mm filter holder with Ice ND filters - as quite often there are some nice nature and lanscape shots to be taken around the areas where I'm shooting macro. Normally I'll use either a larger Domke F2 as it's easy to access and can fit so much gear, or a Mindshift Gear backpack.

Feedback

Just keep at it. Try not to rely on autofocus - most of the time the cameras AF won't lock on the right part of the subject & manual works a lot better. Think about the aperture (a bit obvious) - you don't have to get everything in focus - a wide aperture can produce some very sharp and pleasing shots, especially with a defocused background, a smaller aperture will render more of the image in focus but at the risk of more noise/light drop off etc when using a macro lens. Try to keep the shutter speed as low as you can. If the shutter speed is too high, you again risk losing light - and you can't just ramp up the flash as the more flash you use, the less natural the light looks. Whilst I recommend you find your own settings, most of my macro shots tend to be 1/50 - 1/200 shutter speed, ISO 50-200, Aperture between f/8 and f/18, and shot on a 100mm prime, though a 70-200 zoom works pretty well for skittish insects like buterflies. The most important thing is lighting and how you diffuse that light. There are loads of different set ups - some people like twin-lites, ring lights, constant LED lights but I prefer using a small/medium softbox as it allows you take handheld shots. Using a flash with no diffuser will always make the image look harsh and unnatural - a diffuser will help balance the light across the image. It's then up to you to work out what flash settings work best for your camera set up - as a rule of thumb I'd say keep it as low as you can. Always be respectful and mindful of the subject and your surroundings - don't hurt or unduly stress the insect just to get a photo - if you can't get the shot, you can't get the shot. If you're patient and keep your movements slow and incremental - you can often get within a few cm of the subject without causing any harm. And finally - have a good time - enjoy and appreciate the surroundings you're in. Enjoying nature is a holistic experience :)

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