Small and Smaller, Pt. 2 - _TNY_0077
Sometimes when you shoot a bug, you are so focused on getting everything about the animal right that you don't notice everything around it. That is what happened when I shot this male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) on a floating leaf near the old mill ruin at Åva-Stensjödal in the Tyresta National Park. Demoiselles rest with their wings closed like most damselflies do, but on occasion, they preform this cool fluttering where they open the wings
It wasn't until I got home and got the photos up on my monitor that I noticed the small shore fly in the Hydrellia genus sitting in front of the demoiselle - did you spot it before you read this?
I really like bonus catches like this - it really helps getting a sense of scale with these things. The demoiselle is probably around 45 or maybe 50 mm in length (just less than 2") which isn't that big, but to the fly, that's a large scary monster.
Something else that even if not scary, so at least a little worrisome was shooting this scene. I noticed the demoiselle on the leaf while it was floating close to land so I dropped flat on my stomach and tried to lean out over the water to get close enough to it - but the last meter (3-4') before the water was sloping pretty much downwards and covered with gravel so while trying to nail the shot, I also had to try and grab on to the ground with my body to not slide into the water.
This time it worked out without any involuntary swimming and I even managed to get two other shots with different focus without it moving much so I turned them into a focus stack in part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53226955123/.
Small and Smaller, Pt. 2 - _TNY_0077
Sometimes when you shoot a bug, you are so focused on getting everything about the animal right that you don't notice everything around it. That is what happened when I shot this male beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) on a floating leaf near the old mill ruin at Åva-Stensjödal in the Tyresta National Park. Demoiselles rest with their wings closed like most damselflies do, but on occasion, they preform this cool fluttering where they open the wings
It wasn't until I got home and got the photos up on my monitor that I noticed the small shore fly in the Hydrellia genus sitting in front of the demoiselle - did you spot it before you read this?
I really like bonus catches like this - it really helps getting a sense of scale with these things. The demoiselle is probably around 45 or maybe 50 mm in length (just less than 2") which isn't that big, but to the fly, that's a large scary monster.
Something else that even if not scary, so at least a little worrisome was shooting this scene. I noticed the demoiselle on the leaf while it was floating close to land so I dropped flat on my stomach and tried to lean out over the water to get close enough to it - but the last meter (3-4') before the water was sloping pretty much downwards and covered with gravel so while trying to nail the shot, I also had to try and grab on to the ground with my body to not slide into the water.
This time it worked out without any involuntary swimming and I even managed to get two other shots with different focus without it moving much so I turned them into a focus stack in part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53226955123/.