So Adam and I went out to Wareham forest seeing as its now well and truly dragonfly season and found some wet places, before attempting to get some good shots of dragonflies and damselflies in flight which I found harder than last year. Will have to wait and see how Adams pics faired, but of the ~200 I took, these are pretty much the end result of the only half decent ones!
Large Red Damselflies
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4757887316_febb5b21b5.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpyder/4757887316/)
(possibly)Azure Damselflies
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4136/4757253433_4ff9112495.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpyder/4757253433/)
(possibly) Keeled skimmer
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/4757254745_d1aeffcef3.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpyder/4757254745/)
Four-spotted chaser
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4757256311_c67e419d66.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpyder/4757256311/)
(possibly) an Emperor dragonfly
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4757893746_3469f81691.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpyder/4757893746/)
(possibly) an Emperor dragonfly
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4757259227_b1072ee01e.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpyder/4757259227/)
(possibly)Azure Damselflies
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4757248681_c248ce040f.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpyder/4757248681/)
Four-spotted chaser in flight
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4757247289_118db1f789.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpyder/4757247289/)
Ouch.. im feeling the pressure now, ill get mine cropped up and uploaded.
Right... here goes..
Now before i begin... im actually very annoyed at myself.
Was messing round with the ISO early on in the day and wound it up to 1600... and.. well.. left it there by accident.. less than happy with some of the photos tbh..
Here are a few of the best:
Group shot:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4114/4757784315_f6976cf040_b.jpg)
Little blue dudes with a larve on the stem i think emerging:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4758424974_e0bed77618_b.jpg)
(love the reflections)
Little guys at it:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4758426408_4c920a9a4b_b.jpg)
Big yellow one:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4114/4758429832_94147141dc_b.jpg)
Big blue one:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4757792889_955ecf3dfa_b.jpg)
The big mother:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4757794123_5742f2fe9f_b.jpg)
Now im a bit of a birder tbh.. and loved these that were about:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4758434046_287792c76f_b.jpg)
Great pics - takes a lotta patience. :)
So what happened to having a poll?
I dunno :P
I think yours are a bit sharper. Quite like the "big mother" one as you can see the downdraft of its wings on the water which is cool.
EDIT:
Ive added a poll, itd be rude not to after todays banter!
And seeing as youve posted a non-dragonfly, I take your buzzard and raise you one grasshopper of unknown species:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4757246291_cbe5f4c7ee_b.jpg)
Is it wrong to think that this guy is doing one almighty cock push-up?
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4757887316_febb5b21b5_b.jpg)
that was taken with your compact? nice.
LOL dragonfly pr0n indeed
Told you, for macros where I can get close enough I cant beat my compact. Anything other than macros though its mediocre at best.
Im gonna try and swing the votes my way by stating that all my photos were taken in fully manual mode, unlike my competitor who used sports mode...though to be fair I dont think Binary has processed his photos as much...but he does have better kit! :D
if only i had stuck with the sports mode, a good number of mine were in Av and had the iso jammed up to 1600 as i forgot to reset it :(
Mine are only cropped no other changes
Most of mine were:
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Must admit for your photos being in ISO 1600, they look a lot less grainy than mine, unless these are the sports mode ones?
Quote from: zpyderMust admit for your photos being in ISO 1600, they look a lot less grainy than mine, unless these are the sports mode ones?
Thought id double check, all but the big blue and big yellow are in the automatic mode with the iso down to around 500.
In manual mode i should have set ISO 400 i think it would have given me better results.
Those are some great shots, it must have taken a lot of patience. I wouldnt like to say which I think are better right now as both sets have merits, I might vote tomorrow though. :yarr:
The competition was just from friendly banter whilst we were sat around a small pond getting frustrated with how fast they were moving. Every now and again one of us would take a few shots and proclaim theyd got the winning shot etc :D
I can safely say though I lost patience way before Binary Shadow though :D
Well it was certainly challenging but we both got some great shots, Id be well up for going again. Was great fun, and you never know.. maybe the wareham forest big cat will make an appearance next time..
Could try the new forest though, at least theres some horses if the dragon flys dont stay put long enough.
I think next time Ill give sports mode a go too :D I forgot my camera had one!
nice ones guys, Im going to be all diplomatic, I like Zpyders "possibly emperor in flight" and Binarys "big mother" with the downdraught ripples.
Several of Binarys look a bit overexposed to me, perhaps because the ISO was so high the camera was hitting its maximum shutter speed?
Ive always found Av to be all I need, all the scene modes do is bias the program line towards certain apertures or shutter speeds so once you get the hang of appropriate settings for a given target Av is as automatic as it needs to get.
Saying that though, I did find full auto a useful learning tool while I was trying to get my head around what apertures/shutter speeds to use. Just make sure you keep an eye on what the camera is doing.
I think your right about that, there are a couple there at 1600 iso so i suspect it was getting a bit over cooked.
However my camera does seem to go a little over a fair bit of the time which is quite annoying, might see if i can get it checked.
Tbh Id be annoyed if I won or even drew as I think Binaries are better by far, over exposure or not.
I remember at the start of the day Binary commented on me taking a few shots pretty much as I got my camera out, to which I explained I dont really do photography properly, I was just taking shots at different settings till I was getting the lighting sorted on the camera.
If Binary shot in RAW I think the overexposure could easily be sorted in post processing, if he could bring himself to tweak his shots :D
Meh, not sure they are better by far tbh maybe slightly better though ;) lol
Its just such an effort to tweak em, takes long enough to go through and pick the best of the 250 shots i took then crop them down.
Not too hard this time as there were a lot of out of focus or out of frame shots.
camera raw in the photoshop suite takes the hassle out of it. 9/10 times all you need do is click "auto" and it adjusts things slightly, adding a bit of contrast and/or upping or lowering the exposure. Every now and again other things are needed, but its hardly hassle :D
ill invest in another memory card and start shooting some in RAW mode then, see what sort of results i get.
I dont know what software comes with the Canons, but with my camera if Ive shot in RAW and cant be bothered/dont need to make any adjustments I can just batch convert on camera settings to get the JPGs I would have got in camera.
If you ever shoot indoors or under strange lights RAW is a godsend for fixing white ballance, thats what I use it for most. TBH I dont think Ive ever set my K10D to JPG.