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Dragonfly plague


Dragonfly plague
Photo Information
Copyright: Monika MvJ (thistle) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1309 W: 74 N: 3014] (9282)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-05-21
Categories: Insects
Camera: Nikon Coolpix 4200, Nikkor ED 38-114 F/2.8-4.8
Exposure: f/4.8, 1/900 seconds
Details: (Fill) Flash: Yes
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2006-05-24 4:25
Viewed: 4551
Points: 70
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Yesterday I wrote that we have a dragonfly plague in my region and here's a picture which can prove it :-)

As far as I remember I've never seen so many dragonfies in one place and I definitely never before saw few dragonflies sitting on one reed stem. These day such view is rather common!

Some of my observations:
Huge groups of dragonflies (that is more than 30 on one big shrub) can be found mostly on very sunny forest's edges. I've never seen them sitting in shade.

This is not a one group. I found at least four of them in different places of my forest and meadows. The distances bewteen them reach 1-2 kilometers, so I guess simply this year is good for them and many of these dragonflies emerged in different water pools.

Next thing is the fact that I recognized at least two species among them.

The one you can see on the picture are probably Two-spotted dragonflies (Epitheca bimaculata). But among them I very often saw also Emerald dragonflies (see my yesterday's post). I would say there's about 10% of Emerals among one group of dragonflies.
I should add that these two species belong to the same family (Corduliidae), so maybe they just like to fly together :-)

Next thing - they aren't very shy and it's easy to approach them for a very close distance. You just must be careful because when one fly away many others will do the same.

The picture isn't maybe perfect from photogaphical point of view, but I guess you could find it interesting because of the subject.

I'll just say that actually there were three more dragons on the reed, but one was high on top and two others almost in grass, so I didn't managed to put them all in frame. I was standing in shrub already and there was no way to step back more. Apart from that I wanted to have the sky in BG to show the dragons in the most clear way. I used flash to get the right exposure and as many details as possible.
goutham_ramesh, jcoowanitwong, dew77, limier, fiyo, scottevers7, red45, marhowie, sandpiper2, DOBIS, ramthakur, wallhalla15, eruyanik, jmp, Kaszek, SkyF, soccer, Janice, aido, hekcik, liziafa, thor68, loot, firelord, phlr, peter_stoeckl, dantor, jchemas, cas_orla, jeanpaul has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Dando: Thanks!thistle 1 05-29 04:37
To aido: Reed & leavesthistle 5 05-27 09:38
To loot: Thanksthistle 1 05-27 03:19
To eruyanik: The other shotthistle 4 05-25 11:43
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Monika ,
This is indeed a rare capture, i like the sky BG a lot, you have handled the exposure very well.
TFS
Goutham

Hi Monika ,
Another perfect picture from you. Very well seen. TFS
JC

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4432 W: 248 N: 4028] (13270)
  • [2006-05-24 5:04]

Hello Monika,
Very busy branch:)Well seeen caught,framed and composed.
Excellent work!
TFS...:-)

Hi Monika
A beautiful party of dragonfies taking party in your place and you are very lucky.
Nice colors and great POV
TFS

  • Great 
  • fiyo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1053 W: 5 N: 3475] (15161)
  • [2006-05-24 7:00]

Very nice composition, POV and colours Monika. I also like frame. Good work! Well done.

Hi Monika,
that is very unusual to see so many so close to each other. I love the composition of the shot. Great job on the exposure to get everything looking so great. The sky and clouds for a backround looks amazing.
Very well done!
Scott

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2636 W: 74 N: 9091] (31094)
  • [2006-05-24 7:54]

Hi Monika, this picture remainds me your very old one with blue Damselflies sitting on bowed twid. It was your first picture which I remember :-) Your old, good camcorder also remember it, I bet :-) Now, back to present times - exceptional shot again! Four beauties together. Great opportunity to make such good shots as this one. Very good note. I think Dragonflies acts like i.e. antelopes - when one scented danger all of them escape.

Hi Monika, great capture, It not easy to get 3 of these creatures at one. Wonderful, job, TFS kyle

Hi Monika,
Most unusual :)
Excellent job of cashing in on this great opportunity. Very nice detail, color, and exposure, with the BG just amazing ;)
Very nicely done!

Very different POV from you, but it works really well, very artistic.
Yes I really like this one, lucky you to have so many dragonfles to shoot.

  • Great 
  • DOBIS Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 126 W: 16 N: 170] (632)
  • [2006-05-24 9:17]

Really perfect angle and compositon.
All place to the sky bg is good idea too.
This picture is what I like.
well done
Tomas

super monika
qu'est ce qui attire toutes ces libellules au même endroit?
en tout car la photo est remarquable.
lauent

You live is such plenty, Monika, I'm envious of you!
What a store-house of dragonflies you have got around you!
Fantastic idea to capture four of them against the sky. Each one of them presents a different posture altogether.
TFS.

This is a brilliant damselfly shot! Excellent details and sharpness, perfect composition, great colours and excellent note too. Fantastic work! Well done, Monika. Thank you for posting.
Gr.
Heinz

What a nice plague Monika! So have fun! This year I haven't seen any dragonfly so far :( I'm afraid there is a plague on contrary to yours in my city! I like the vertical framing a lot on this one! Sky as a bg everytime works! I like the branch and green leafs also, they made the composition something nice.
WELL DONE!!! (I know for this one you have no intend to artistical shot!) But I like the saying to your shot as a WELL DONE!
Cheers,
Ersin

ps: The other shot, portrait of the dragonfly! If you used your flash there, you had possibly black bg and your models face will be more colourful and show him shiny!

  • Great 
  • jmp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1659 W: 95 N: 2273] (8415)
  • [2006-05-24 17:29]

Hi Monika,
A clear shot, with good color, light, composition and an useful note. As this animal eat insect, I guess that this plague must be due to another one that they are controling.
Very good photo,
José M.

  • Great 
  • osse Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 955 W: 0 N: 89] (7805)
  • [2006-05-24 17:56]

Hi Monika
Wow great composition and captured. I have't seen one this year and you have 4 in one shot great. Good colours, details, sharpnes, BG DOF and POV.
Well done Monika

osse

  • Great 
  • Kaszek Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 237 W: 50 N: 391] (1451)
  • [2006-05-24 18:31]

Absolutnie fantastyczne. Wazki kojarza mi sie ze smiglowcami. A wszystko co zwiazane z lotnictwem po prostu kocham. Wspaniale zdjecie. Tylko pozazdroscic takiej ilosci tych cudnych wazek. Wygladaj przepieknie na tle blekitnego nieba. Brawo!

  • Great 
  • SkyF Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2234 W: 188 N: 1912] (8073)
  • [2006-05-24 19:41]

Hallo Monika,
this is amazing, I never seen more than two dragonflies at the plant. Excellent note and wel composed photo.
TFS..Sky

Hi Monika,
A bit of a late one last night (work not fun!!). Just time for a very quick visit.
Thanks for posting, well worth a big smiley.

Monika,

well Done in making the most of the over supply of Dragon Flies! Well Composed shot that shows detail and carries off your subject very well indeed. Sharp and detailed pic with a beautiful BG. TFS,
Sheriff

  • Great 
  • Janice Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3277 W: 148 N: 6163] (18832)
  • [2006-05-25 7:21]

FOUR of them!!! Looks like a gathering for a meeting I think. Superb capture seeing them all lined up like that. CONGRATULATIONS! And your notes once again are great to read.
Thank you,
Janice

  • Great 
  • radz Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 598 W: 11 N: 72] (436)
  • [2006-05-25 10:02]

Incrediable shot,ofcourse its rare shot.And sharp shot.

It's an interesting picture because of the subject for sure, but I think it's a great picture anyway. The POV is perfect, it allows a clear view of the Dragonflies with the plain blue BG and it makes the reed seem very high. I think this is much better than having reeds in the background which would be too busy. The colours are bright and natural and I like the green leaves in the bottom corner a lot, it adds a real contrast to the blue. Great work as always :-)
Cheers,
Adrian

  • Great 
  • klemmg Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 302 W: 40 N: 484] (1719)
  • [2006-05-25 18:19]

Great capture of this intersting event, I really hope to get plagued to. I was thinking that the long hard winter was not easy on the insects so I suspected this summer won't be so good macro-wise, but this gives me hope!
Excellent choice of point of view with the blue sky BG, and the BG arranged so the the cloud behind accentuates the strategically place top d-fly. The leaf accentuates the bottom one. Excellent!
Regards,
Gabi

Witaj,

Kolejne przepiekne zdjecie.
Niesamowite, 4 w jednym czasie...
nic tylko pozazdroscic...
Jakosc, kolory i wykonanie na najwyzszym poziomie. Gratuluje!

Pozdrowienia :-)
Norbert

Witaj,
No nie Monika czarodziejka? Chyba zahipnotyzowalas te wazki bo nie uciekly :-)
Jak zwykle B D B!!!!
Gratuluje i pozdrawiam
Malgosia

Wow! you got a big bonus with this gregarious group of dragonflies. Very nice exposure showing crisp details. Well done Monika. :)

  • Great 
  • thor68 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 795 W: 138 N: 1319] (5674)
  • [2006-05-26 17:33]

amazing plague, dragonflies,
i saw one the whole last year...
this is a very good shot, monika,
4 dragonflies with 4 different poses in one
photo reaching for the blue sky together.
lucky you, hope you´ll capture some more for us.
very well done & take care, thor.

  • Great 
  • loot Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5524 W: 722 N: 4163] (11276)
  • [2006-05-27 2:58]
  • [+]

Hi Monika
I sure would not mind being pestered by such a handsome plague. Well done with this shot and it sure underlines the point you are making in your notes.
Your composition is great, making maximum use of the contrast between the blue sky and the darker dragonflies to show them very clearly. I just cannot make up my mind whether I like the green leaves or whether I find them to be a bit of a distraction. Maybe it would have been better if it was not there, but perhaps it does provide some balance and a break in the even colour of the sky. Anyway, the details were well captured and the exposure was excellently managed with the fill-in flash to counter the effect of the backlight glare you would have had if you did not use the flash.
Great work and TFS.
Regards
Loot

  •      
  • phlr Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1237 W: 130 N: 882] (2821)
  • [2006-05-27 12:42]

Great! Just Great Monika!
So many at the same time!
A pleasure to the photographers!
Grat job on this photo!
Very good BG against the blue sky!
Excellent POV too!
5* and TFS!

Hello Monika,
your picture of dragonflies taken against the sky looks phantastic! Full of light, open space, and the feeling of fresh air. A very appealing rhythm you have achived in your composition. An unusal image, exciting and pleasant.
Wished we had a dragonfly plague over here. Flooded rivers from melting waters in March and April, a number of wet days in May - and we are suffering now from the worst plague of mosquitoes I can remember. Please send us some of your dragonflies to swallow the plague we have.
Thank you for your pretty and unusual contribution!
Best regards,
Peter

  • Great 
  • Dando Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor [C: 637 W: 32 N: 792] (3084)
  • [2006-05-28 18:23]
  • [+]

Hi Monika, sorry I haven't been around much lately, been busy with the arrival of my new daughter. Great shot, I can't even capture one dragonfly and you have four in one go. You have a plague where I haven't noticed any in my region so far. I think you have captured this well with the dragonflies clinging to the stem against the blue sky, makes a great composition. Well done and TFS.
Dean.

This plague gave you, Monika, an opportunity to take a unique photo, which is well exposed and shows good detail. The patches of green and white on the blue sky adds freshness and life to the scene. I can see why the green leaf bothered you at first.However, I think that without it this image would just have been four bugs on a stick. Well done!

Your note is very interesting. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

Great shot this one too, Monika.
Excellent deatils and the colors anr oustanding.
Regards
JC

Hello Monika
Tres belle prise de vue que ces jolies libellules.Belle composition les couleurs sont superbes ainsi que les détails. En plus tu les prends 4 a la fois et moi je n'ai pas réussi a en prendre encore une seule.
Merci et bravo Passe un bon week end...JP

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