Aeshna cyanea

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Chris
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First time I've taken one of these Dragonflies. Got one of the Southern Hawkers today :) All hand held today.

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These next three are all 2 Shot Stacks - (Helicon 6).

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Very nice shots Chris, No1, really nice shot, looks square on.
The 1st shot of the stacks looks to be the best for me but I'm on a tablet.
 
Really love those close head shots, if you don't mind me asking how do you get so close without them flying off? Is it earlier before they get warm and active? Or are you just more stealthy and lighter footed than me? (That's not gonna be hard to be more stealthy lol)
 
"Excellent" set of images Chris, with some very fine detail. I like them all very much.(y)

George.
 
What an impressive dragon! Really great to see and very well captured.

The last one looks to have very high contrast. I guess it could be a result of the stacking, or perhaps strong sunlight. Not sure if it's worth playing with the contrast a bit, it may work better with it slightly lower, it may not...
 
Very nice shots Chris, No1, really nice shot, looks square on.
The 1st shot of the stacks looks to be the best for me but I'm on a tablet.

Thanks Graham - you are correct, it is the best stack - as the other two just miss some of the hairs on the face.

Really love those close head shots, if you don't mind me asking how do you get so close without them flying off? Is it earlier before they get warm and active? Or are you just more stealthy and lighter footed than me? (That's not gonna be hard to be more stealthy lol)

These were taken in the afternoon, I watched it fly around, and then fortunately it landed almost in front of me. Let it settle for a minute or two before taking the first shot. Then carefully got closer to it, avoiding knocking any vegetation, casting shadows over it. That combined with a bit of luck too - sometimes they will see you or something else and fly off.

"Excellent" set of images Chris, with some very fine detail. I like them all very much.(y)

George.

Thanks George

What an impressive dragon! Really great to see and very well captured.

The last one looks to have very high contrast. I guess it could be a result of the stacking, or perhaps strong sunlight. Not sure if it's worth playing with the contrast a bit, it may work better with it slightly lower, it may not...

Thanks Tim, looking at them now can see the contrast is a bit high - I think I got excited with the new species. I will be my starting point and then final play around that has done that - combined with the original strong sunlight.
 
Really love those close head shots, if you don't mind me asking how do you get so close without them flying off? Is it earlier before they get warm and active? Or are you just more stealthy and lighter footed than me? (That's not gonna be hard to be more stealthy lol)
As it goes dragonflies and damselflies will let you get close, really close, it's not all of them though, I think some really like having their photo taken and are very tolerant of us and even like to watch us watching them.
Sorry to hijack this thread.
 
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Second stack is my favourite excellent closeup
Really like the first shot too
The first dragonfly that I photographed was a southern hawker they are stunning creatures
 
Amazing shots Chris well done, I was out on Saturday doing the same thing, I watched a really big bugger flying around for 5 or 6 minutes thinking come on your wings have got to get tired soon. They didn't:(.
 
Great captures, I don't have the patience to capture images like these. Well done.
 
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