wildlife Dragonflies and Damselflies

[AJStrees]

I know there’s a few posts on beasties and wildlife. I thought maybe those that see them could post some pictures of the different dragonflies and damselflies you see. We can get idea of the different species by area. Just an idea. 
 

besides that I’m always impressed at their colours and they are great to photograph with in my humble opinion. Here are some recent shots I took. An improvement on last years try at it. 
 

 

 

[dangb93]

Empty case after emerging 

[Pete W]

Nice shots @AJStrees I've not managed to get close to any Dragonflies this year,although did see loads of copulating Large Red Damselfly on one of the woodland ponds when I was path clearing yesterday (no bloody camera!).

Some shots of the common Damsels here.

Large Red, Common Blue, a couple of Blue-tailed and face to face with what I think is Common Blue.

 

 

[AJStrees]

Nice! Lighting is great. What did you use to get the head on shot? Is it cropped/macro? 

[Pete W]

1 hour ago, AJStrees said:

Nice! Lighting is great. What did you use to get the head on shot? Is it cropped/macro? 

Both! Testical details, Sigma 105mm Macro, 1/500th f11 500iso -0.67 EV Nikon D7500 (makes the lens 150mm effective) , shot RAW and processed in Darktable, Here's the full frame.

[AJStrees]

Nice! I’ve not been shooting RAW for a bit as I’ve not got any editing software. Maybe darktable is the way forward. Do you need a fairly high spec computer to make it work at a decent pace? 
 

Head on shots are great if you can get them. 👍

 

Is the macro lens fixed? f11 seems quite a high f number, is there a reason for doing that? I’m only asking as an amateur photographer with lots to learn myself. Not as a dig in any way. 👍

[AJStrees]

Spotted a 4 spotted chaser today. 
 

 

[Pete W]

8 hours ago, AJStrees said:

Nice! I’ve not been shooting RAW for a bit as I’ve not got any editing software. Maybe darktable is the way forward. Do you need a fairly high spec computer to make it work at a decent pace? 
 

Head on shots are great if you can get them. 👍

 

Is the macro lens fixed? f11 seems quite a high f number, is there a reason for doing that? I’m only asking as an amateur photographer with lots to learn myself. Not as a dig in any way. 👍

 

My Laptop isn't particularly high spec: 4 core i5 @2.50 GHz, 16GB Ram, Nvidia GTX1050 4GB graphics card, 2TB SSD, hooked up to 28" 4k monitor. Unless I do some really serious processing I find it quite acceptable speed wise. As I have been using Linux for the last 20 odd years I've no idea what it's like on another OS.

Darktable has a steep learning curve especially for people coming from other software as there are so many different options with the modules, I have a standard preset that I apply to all imports (puts it to approx jpg off the camera) and then go from there. Some excellent tutorials on Youtube, Bruce Williams, can be a bit long winded, but the "Noobs" ones are worth watching. The great thing is that Darktable is free so only costs time and effort to see if it works for you. RawTherapee is another that I have dabbled with but haven't spent time with it, others put it to good use though.

As to the Damselfly snap, used f11 to try to get a decent depth of field, this lens has decent resolution up to f16 but sharpness falls off above that, as it was quite windy with the grass stem blowing around didn't want to drop the shutter speed too low.

My method of working in the field (literally in this case) is to use my standard camera settings to get a couple of bankers in and then if the subject stays put, mess around with exposure etc.

As I often say, "Once I stop being awed by nature and learning new things, just dig a hole and bury me."

Sorry for the long rambling post.

[AJStrees]

1 hour ago, Pete W said:

 

My Laptop isn't particularly high spec: 4 core i5 @2.50 GHz, 16GB Ram, Nvidia GTX1050 4GB graphics card, 2TB SSD, hooked up to 28" 4k monitor. Unless I do some really serious processing I find it quite acceptable speed wise. As I have been using Linux for the last 20 odd years I've no idea what it's like on another OS.

Darktable has a steep learning curve especially for people coming from other software as there are so many different options with the modules, I have a standard preset that I apply to all imports (puts it to approx jpg off the camera) and then go from there. Some excellent tutorials on Youtube, Bruce Williams, can be a bit long winded, but the "Noobs" ones are worth watching. The great thing is that Darktable is free so only costs time and effort to see if it works for you. RawTherapee is another that I have dabbled with but haven't spent time with it, others put it to good use though.

As to the Damselfly snap, used f11 to try to get a decent depth of field, this lens has decent resolution up to f16 but sharpness falls off above that, as it was quite windy with the grass stem blowing around didn't want to drop the shutter speed too low.

My method of working in the field (literally in this case) is to use my standard camera settings to get a couple of bankers in and then if the subject stays put, mess around with exposure etc.

As I often say, "Once I stop being awed by nature and learning new things, just dig a hole and bury me."

Sorry for the long rambling post.

I’m probably going to need to upgrade. My specs are very low. Tried running RAWtherapee was terribly slow on my computer. 
 

good advice and input. Good ramblings mate. 👍

[Steve Bullman]

12 hours ago, Pete W said:

Both! Testical details, Sigma 105mm Macro, 1/500th f11 500iso -0.67 EV Nikon D7500 (makes the lens 150mm effective) , shot RAW and processed in Darktable, Here's the full frame.

This isn't Grindr you know