I was back at our local reserve in the middle of July, on the lookout for damselflies. Huge areas of the park are left uncut so meadow flowers can grow. It has always been a wonderful place to find several species of damselfly and this time I had something particular in mind. Instead of the traditional side-on view, I wanted to see if I could photograph them from the front. They aren’t easy to approach at the best of times, but sticking a lens less than 12 inches in front of their faces seemed to be asking rather a lot. And it was… at least in the beginning until I had fine-tuned my method. I eventually discovered that if you can get that close and the damselfly accepts the loud shutter noise from the first few shots, then you can pretty much do anything.
The white-legged damselfly featured above and below was perhaps my most memorable subject of the summer. Checking the Exif data once I got home, I discovered that I worked with him for a full 45 minutes. In that time, I got uncomfortable and shifted my position several times. Then I wanted to use an extension tube, which involved collapsing on the grass behind, dragging off my rucksack and rummaging around inside. Once the kit was ready, I had problems hauling myself back up again. He wasn’t sleeping because he took off every once in a while, landing in the same spot, right in front of my lens.
As if I hadn’t been lucky enough, he then caught a tiny insect in mid-air and proceeded to eat it just inches away. The speed surprised me as he was gone for only a few moments.
I also had some luck on the same day with a friendly little common blue damselfly.
Steve Cullum
24 Sep 2020Another good read and you have shown us here your excellent macro skills. Keep up the good work 🙂
Zooey
25 Sep 2020Thank you Steve. It’s going to be old macro images from now until next spring 🙂
Sid
25 Sep 2020Oh My Wow 😳
Those shots are absolutely stunning!
So close, so beautiful: I am fascinated!
Ciao
Sid
Zooey
25 Sep 2020Thank you Sid. It’s a wonderful feeling looking into the eyes of a bug. They are almost like little aliens 🙂