Study of a Dragonfly

[Volans]

G'day All,

I saw this fella on a bit of chook wire. He (and it is a he becuase it has the "claspers" at the end of the abdomen which it uses for mating purposes) was very very still so it was quite easy to get good close up images. I think the poor thing had landed there as a final resting place. The wings were so beautiful and delicate. They also shimmered rainbows in the bright sunlight. The wrap around compound eyes were also quite amazing to see - I can't really ever imagine just how such a creature envisages the world. I have heard that they have superb colour vision with a good idea of depth of field.

Peter.

[Octane]

Peter,

The first two shots are absolutely stunning. Magnificent.

What camera and lens were you using?

Regards,
Humayun

[iceman]

Agree with H! Stunning shots Peter, incredible detail and colour in the first 2.

[ving]

love dragonflies!
thanks fer sharing peter :)

[Volans]

Thanks fellas, I was using my Canon 350D with the stock 18-55mm lens. No filters and I just used the auto balance correction button (in the program ACDSee) as far as post processing goes. It was just before 13:00 when I took the pics so the Sun was blazing away quite nicely to give good light.

If you want the original images for the first two (both are just under 2 meg) then I can email them to you. I used the LARGE setting on the camera so the images are good enough that you can see individual hairs on its body.

Peter.

[acropolite]

Well caught Peter, I saw a program on various flies including dragonflies, they are fascinating creatures.:thumbsup:

[vespine]

dragonflies are my fav insects too. They are the fastest insects on earth, capable of reaching flying speeds up to almost 90 km/h!