Azure Damselflies

It appears that the warm weather has opened the macro season early this year. Today I’ve seen my first banded demoiselles of the year, a full two months before they first appeared last year. This means I’m likely to have a very productive summer.

Today’s picture came as something of a surprise, in that it’s the first shot I’ve produced from the Tamron 18-270 PZD where the results have outstripped those from my macro lens. In this case, it was the range of the lens that made the difference. I used a 20mm extension tube for this shot, so that I could get higher magnification from a greater distance. That was important for two reasons. Firstly, this pair of damselflies were very skittish. Secondly, they were perched over water. I couldn’t have got closer if I had wanted to. A shorter lens just didn’t work for this shot. Please be sure to click on the image to see the properly resized file, as there’s quite a difference to how it’s viewed here.

Using the Tamron 18-270 PZD, I was able to reach right out over the water, and the extension tube allowed me to make sure that the lens didn’t reduce in focal length as it was focused. It has also resulted in the background softening out.

There’s also a nice little coincidence as well: there’s a remarkable similarity in the shape of the shadow to that of the silhouette of a three-tailed damselfly nymph.

Brand:	NIKON CORPORATION
Camera:	Nikon D300 Check out Nikon Nation!
Lens:	Tamron 18.0-270.0 mm f/3.5-6.3 Check out Totally Tamron!
Recording media:	RAW (digital)
Date Taken:	30 May 2012 - 2:48 PM
Focal Length:	200mm
Lens Max Aperture:	f/6.3
Aperture:	f/10.0
Shutter Speed:	1/250sec
Exposure Comp:	+2/3
ISO:	500
Exposure Mode:	Aperture-priority AE
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
Flash:	On, Return detected

Title:	Azure Damselflies
Username:	discreetphoton
Uploaded:	30 May 2012 - 8:59 PM
Tags:	Close-up / macro, Flash / lighting, General, Wildlife / nature
VS Mode Rating	102 (71.43% won) These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2 Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode
Votes:	20