Posted on September 22, 2020
Another Dragonfly season is pretty much over now so I will have to find other interesting subjects to photograph. Here are some Slaty Skimmer Dragonfly images from my last visit to Davidsons Mill Pond Park before they were gone.




Category: Blog, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies, Favorite Locations, Focus Stacking, Image Stacking, Insects, Nature Still Lifes, Panorama & Stacked Images Tagged: canon 1.4x teleconverter series III, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, Canon 7D, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies, slaty skimmer, slaty skimmer dragonfly
Posted on September 8, 2020
Photographing Dragonflies for this year is soon coming to an end. I am only seeing a random one here or there in the local parks. This image of a male Slaty Skimmer was taken with a 300mm lens with a 1.4X Teleconverter on a Canon 7D. The 5 handheld images were taken at different focus points along the dragonfly and branch @ f/8 to keep a softer background but have detail on the wings, body & branch it was on.
Posted on July 18, 2020
I was looking for dragonflies and found this Slaty Skimmer at a local park for a photo subject. I wanted a colorful, softer & smoother background so I was using a 400mm f/4 Canon DO lens, with an extension tube on a Canon 1D mkIV. I shot 3 images at different focus points @ f/11. This gives me enough sharpness on the dragonfly (wingtips & tail) but still gives me a very smooth background. This makes my dragonfly stand out more from the soft background.
Posted on July 14, 2020
It is starting to be the time of year when dragonflies start to show signs of wear & tear on their wings. It seems they must lead a rough life from the looks of wear on some of them. The featured image is a male Slaty Skimmer Dragonfly.

Blue Dasher, 300mm, 2x teleconverter, (600mm) 2 images – focus stacked

Blue Dasher, 300mm, 2x teleconverter, (600mm) 5 images focus stacked

Eastern Pondhawk Male – (600mm) 3 images focus stacked

Blue Dasher, (960mm) Multi-image stack

Blue Dasher, (600mm) multi-image focus stack

2 Male Spangled Skimmers, (600mm) 2 image focus stack
Category: Blackwater NWR, Cambridge MD, Blog, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies, Favorite Locations, Plainsboro Preserve, Uncategorized Tagged: Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Eastern Pondhawk, Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly, slaty skimmer, Spangled Skimmer dragonflies, Spangled Skimmer Dragonfly, Spangled Skimmers
Posted on July 10, 2019
Some Dragonflies from a recent walk at Davidsons Mill Pond Park. Featured image is a Blue Dasher (male). All images captured with a Canon 1D MkIV with a 300mm f/4 lens & 1.4X Teleconverter.

Another Blue dasher – Male

Eastern Pondhawk – Female

Eastern Pondhawk – Female

Eastern Pondhawk – Male

Slaty Skimmer Male

Common Whitetail Male

Widow Skimmer – Female

Eastern Amberwing – Male

Calico Pennant – Male

Widow Skimmer – Female

Widow Skimmer – Male
Category: Blog, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies, Insects, Nature Still Lifes Tagged: Blue Dasher, Calico Pennant, Canon, Canon 1D MkIV, canon 300mm f/4 IS lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, common whitetail, Davidsons Mill Pond Park, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Eastern Amberwing, Eastern Pondhawk, slaty skimmer, Widow Skimmer, widow skimmer dragonfly
Posted on August 19, 2018
I am going through my dragonfly images shot earlier this Summer at various locations. These are Slaty Skimmers photographed at Davidson’s Mill Pond Park in Monmouth County, New Jersey. For these I used a Canon 7D (1.6 crop sensor) 300mm f/4 lens and a 1.4x or 2x teleconverter to get closer since my subjects did not want to cooperate and come closer to the edge of the pond.

Slaty Skimmer – Side View @ 960mm (Field Of View)

Slaty Skimmer Closeup Wing Detail

Slaty Skimmer – Side View

Slaty Skimmer – 3/4 rear view

Slaty Skimmer – Side View

Slaty Skimmer – Side View

Slaty Skimmer Wing Detail
Posted on July 23, 2018
I am always trying different ways to photograph Dragonflies and Damselflies. At one location most of the dragonflies are not where I can get close to get the detail I want. So I have to come up with different ways to photograph them. Here I was trying a 300mm lens with close focusing capability. I also added a 2X teleconverter, so using a Canon 1.6 crop sensor camera I had a FOV equivalent of 960mm of a full frame camera. Some shots I also added a short extension tube between the lens and the teleconverter which also enlarges the image on the sensor a little more. But doing this you cannot focus to infinity, but I did not need that ability to photograph Dragonflies.



Posted on June 25, 2018
We went to Davidson’s Mill Pond Park to look for Dragonflies and whatever else we could find to photograph. We found a lot flying around both the large pond and the small pond. There was a large variety but many of the larger dragonflies are constantly zooming by, so they are hard to get photos of. But we did find about 6 different types that were more cooperative for our photo interests. Along with quite a few damselflies. It is a hard location to get closeups because the ponds are lower than the surrounding grass areas with lots of vegetation and plants blocking the smaller plants on the shoreline where most of the Dragonflies were active. I was using a 300mm f/4 IS lens with a 1.4x teleconverter on a Canon 1.6x crop body. The 300mm lens can focus very close without using an extension tube. So the whole combination gave me a field of view equivalent to a 672mm lens which helped fill the frame with my distant subject Dragonflies. This is a 3 Image focus stack assembled in Photoshop for more sharpness from the head to wings & wingtips and to the tip of the tail.
Posted on July 17, 2017
We saw many types of Dragonflies while we were at the Davidson Mill Pond Park. Here are images of a Slaty Skimmer Dragonfly. The featured image shows the wing detail where the 4 wings attach to the Thorax. These dragonflies are usually a little under 2 inches long. This is 2 stacked images, focused on the head and then on the thorax. Combined in Photoshop for more depth of field. 300mm f/4 lens with a 1.6x Canon cropped body and 1.4x teleconverter (approx 672mm in full frame equivalence).

Same Dragonfly as above, three images, photographed at three different focus points along the Dragonfly. Head, thorax and tip of tail. Assembled in Photoshop for more sharpness on the dragonfly, but trying to keep the background softer since it was quite close behind the dragon.
Now I have to find something with feathers to post!
Posted on August 14, 2015
This Slaty Skimmer Dragonfly was happily sitting in the sun on this plant. A Blue Dasher Dragonfly kept chasing it off. It would do a small arc and land back in the same spot. They kept doing this for quite a few minutes.
photoartflight