Damsel orange tip

I went for an early session today, to try to be creative with the light as the dew was quite heavy this morning. That didn't work out, all I succeeded in doing was slipping and sliding for two hours in my flip-flops. Plenty of good shots though but not a difficult choice today.

This damsel is probably my best damsel shot so far, as I always seem to struggle with them. The first problem is alignment, because they are so long and thin, if you don't get absolutely square on, you lose the tail focus and even the wings. Secondly, the eyes stick out so far that you have to choose, body or eyes in focus, limited to F8 for the crispest image from my lens, I can't have both unless a shoot from further back and crop. I chose to go with the body.

Lighting is critical and I am still trying to figure it out, but obviously it worked today. I much prefer to be in heavy cover and use flash, but today's shot was natural light. Background is important, too cluttered does not work, but most times you just don't get to choose, again I got lucky today. Like with blooms, a black background I think is the best, but you can only achieve that with flash.

It has been a problem telling the sexes apart with dragons and damsels. I read a while back that it had something to do with the two prongs that stick out of the tail end, that the male uses to grip the female behind the head. This is nonsense as both sexes have these prongs. Finally I had a proper read on the subject and now the mystery is solved.

The male's wedding tackle is located on the underside of the second segment of the long abdomen, just about visible in this image if you go large. The female's sex organs are located under the last two or three segments of the abdomen, just before the rear end. You cannot see much with the naked eye, but you can see enough from a side view to tell the difference. This goes for dragons also.

Dave