Another dragon afternoon

Even though it's Sunday I went to the dragonfly pond. There was a woman and her dog already there taking photographs (that is to say the woman had a camera), but the dragonflies weren't flying. It was cooler than of late and dull, so it was a case of stalking them. There were a few damsels around, but I managed to put up a couple of common darters, one of which landed in view and I was able to creep up on it and get close enough to use the Raynox without spooking it. It was so unconcerned that I got bored before it flew off. In fact it didn't fly off until after the dog owner had managed to get some shots of it after I pointed it out to her.

After more wandering round I disturbed another darter. This one looked to be recently emerged, and one wing was either not going to fully unfurl or was still unfurling. As a result it was even more immobile than the first one, and I got even closer with the Raynox.

I went for a stroll through some unkempt grass and mixed herbage where I found a bee feasting on a thistle. I spent quite some time photographing the bee trying to get the perfect composition with the bee in just the right place on the flower. Only when I revied the photos at home did I realise, that like the darter macro, I'd left the ISO on auto instead of setting it manually and it was higher than it should have been. Oh, well...

Time was getting on and hunger was gnawing. I still called in at the litter pit, after a wander along a path by a nearby wood, and then into the wood where I got low down for a first attempt at fungi photography. The angled eyepiece is ideal for this. Given that fungi don't run or fly away I guess it's time to get the tripod out and slow the shutter down for future efforts. It's a start, but I should have done more 'gardening' to tidy the picture up.

At the litter pit craters there were as few dragonflies in evidence as at the dragonfly pond. The usual blue damsels and a couple of common darters were all I saw before the clouds darkened, rain threatened and the stomach rumbled.

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Everyone's a wildlife photographer

The web seems to be filled with blogs and sites displaying wildlife photographs, many offering prints for sale or images for use via agencies, some even offering photography workshops. The problem is that it's difficult to differentiate the true professionals from the wannabes.

You see it's all too easy to make images that look pin sharp at small sizes on the web. And with the ability for people to comment on blogs the uninitiated praise photos that are actually small versions of noisy crops. They look okay at 400 pixel width, but any larger and they reveal their true quality. Some folks also get sucked in by praise from the undiscerning and think their work is as good as they are told. Then they style themselves as 'wildlife photographers' - pushing it to the limit by adding 'pro' to the title if they have sold just one photo (or maybe less)!

The nature of some on-line photo agencies are less discerning than others. It costs them little to host the photos, so anyone can sign up and claim they have an agent. It all looks very professional - but it's just smoke and mirrors. But so long as nobody gets conned I guess it's pretty harmless fantasising.

Enough of the grumbling. Here's some pics from the garden. All tiny to make my point!

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Bad timing and a tip-off

With rain forecast for late on I popped out on an errand at lunchtime, taking a camera with me and intending to catch some damsel or dragonflies while the sun was out. By the time I got to the litter pit the sun had changed its mind. There were a few damsels around the small ponds, and quite a few small skippers but I didn't get much that was any good. The male blue-tailed clinging to a horsetail was about the best. The emperor was in evidence, as was the one on the Litter Pit itself.

One that looked sharp on the LCD

While walking round to the bay where the emperor flies I heard a racket in the willows at the back of the path. It turned out to be two juvenile wrens, which perched close enough for long enough for me to get a clear shot of one. Even though the ISO was high with them being in the shade on a dull day they turned out not too bad.

ISO2200 with Neat Image noise reduction

The emperor was chasing around and proving impossible to photograph. The wind wasn't strong enough to force him to fly in a straight line and he was all over the place. He was also duelling with the mystery dragonfly, which I thought was a brown hawker. As chance would have it this was confirmed by a chap carrying out a dragonfly survey for the landowner. Chatting to him was enlightening, and he told me of two small ponds that are out of the way and worth a look.

A few minutes after we went our separate ways there were spots of rain on the surface of the pit. I beat a hasty retreat to the car. As I got in the rain eased off so I went to look for the new ponds - apparently dug for the benefit of great crested newts. They took a bit of finding, but they will be worth another visit on a sunny day. Not just for the insects but the birdlife too. I'll be able to sit a while and wait, hopefully undisturbed by other humans. While I was wandering around I saw a few damsels and watched another brown hawker chasing commas. There were quite a few other butterflies around too, not to mention bees and various flies. A nice secluded spot alright.

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It's been a while

The bird photography took over for a long time, but the close-ups have been getting more attention lately. No diopter used, just the 70-300, sometimes in 'macro' mode, sometimes not.

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