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Ed Knepley | all galleries >> Photo a Day (PAD) since 5/04 >> oct_09_pad > 10/27/09 - The Hunter
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10/27/09 - The Hunter

A Blue Dasher dragonfly on its hunting perch on the lookout for food. Found at the edge of a water lily pond. I went for a very shallow DOF so as to make the yellow centered red water lilies & green leaves appear as a soft blur of color. Folks think these are hard to shoot. On the fly certainly but sitting on a perch is a piece of cake. The secret is to watch them for a while. You want to find their perch - this is where they'll continue to return to after flying off to capture prey. Once you've found the perch, set up your shot (on tripod and focus on the perch - you're now good to shoot anytime the critter returns). This same technique works for many butterfly - say feeding on wildflowers. As a matter of fact, since you know exactly where the critter will land and take off from, once you've set up you should be able to get some "on the fly" images by shooting a burst as you see it approach the perch.

Nikon D70s
1/320s f/5.6 at 200.0mm full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Tom Briggs27-Oct-2009 20:51
Fantastic detail, Ed ... and that terrific background ... all combine to make this one a keeper for sure ... v
Michael Weinberg27-Oct-2009 20:26
Hello Ed. outstanding macro capture... and that wild background bokeh really ads snap to this superb comp. Michael.