A cool damp morning is the best time to photograph dragonflies. You cannot escape, the wings have to dry first and the dragonfly has to warm up. A positive side...
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A cool damp morning is the best time to photograph dragonflies. You cannot escape, the wings have to dry first and the dragonfly has to warm up. A positive side effect of the photo shoot for the dragonfly (even if she wasn't aware of it): as long as I stood next to her, she was safe from the starlings that had to fill the hungry stomachs of the brood...
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Behind The Lens
Location
In the vicinity of where I live there is a nature reserve with a few shallow ponds, where bricks used to be dug out of the loamy soil. Today beavers and kingfisher are at home there - and a lot of dragonflies. This is where this picture was takenTime
Dragonflies are best photographed in the early morning when it is still cool or the animals are covered in dew, because then they cannot fly awayLighting
I tried to avoid direct sunlight on the damselfly. Fortunately, there were enough trees around the site that cast shadowsEquipment
I used my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with a Tamron SP 90mm 1:2.8 Di Macro 1:1 VC USD lensInspiration
I love to photograph damselflies every now and then. They are beautiful animals and because of their size they are also suitable for macro recordings without much effort such as stackingEditing
A little bit cropping, that's allIn my camera bag
First and foremost, I photograph landscapes. I have two lenses in my backpack for this genre: the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM and the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM. Various ND and GND filters as well as a tripod are of course always included. If the way to the photo spot is not too long or too difficult, I also like to take the Tamron 70-300mm 1: 4-5.6 SP Di VC USM with me for detailed shots. Occasionally I do astrophotography with the Sigma 14mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art but this thing is so heavy that it is only taken for that special occasion. My second big passion is wildlife photography. Here I have the Tamron SP 150-600mm F / 5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 (also very heavy and therefore not always in the backpack) for the larger and more abrasive specimens and the Tamron SP 90mm 1: 2.8 Di Macro 1:1 VC USD for the tiny ones For indoor photography and other occasions where you need an ultra-wide angle, I recently added another heavyweight - the Sigma 12-24mm f / 4 DG HSM Art, which is not always included due to the weight. I use all those lenses with my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV My newest toy is a drone: the dji Mavic 2 pro for unusual perspectives, abstractions and a view over the fogFeedback
When dragonflies can't fly away because it's too cold or too wet for it, they like to hide behind blades of grass or reeds. Since the dragonfly can only hide but not escape, this is the ideal time to photograph it