One footnote to dragonfly shooting: Like most of us, they slow down late in the day. I've seen them perch for ten minutes or more in late afternoon. That's when you nail them:-). Paul On Jul 29, 2007, at 10:16 PM, Mark Cassino wrote:
> Bob Shell wrote: > >> Do you have any special secret for getting so close to dragonflies? >> The ones around here are so skittish that I am never able to get >> really close to them. > > Well, equipment helps - a 200mm macro, with the crop factor of the > K10D > or *ist-D, lets you shoot from 2.5 to 3 feet away - that's a huge help > vs a 100 mm macro which, of course, would require you to get twice as > close. > > That said, I always get low on the subject and crawl up to it from > a low > position - hard on the knees, but less likely to spook the subject. > > In addition, perching dragonflies - the pennants, meadowhawks, > skimmers, > - will usually return to the same perch. So when they fly off just > when > you get them in focus, just sit still and wait for them to return. > That > does not work with darners, clubtails, and other non-perching > dragonflies. > > Move when they move. If the dragonfly is perched on a stalk of grass, > and is bouncing around in the wind, it will have a hard time > distinguishing you from the background - unless you are wearing > plaid or > some bright color. > > Lastly - patience. That Halloween pennant that Bill and I shot just > could not sit still for a long time. Suddenly it decided that it > was at > the best perch, and just stopped. He kept returning to the same place > time and time again. I had followed him for some time before that, > so he > obviously just reached the conclusion that we were harmless, and just > started to ignore us. > > But - shooting bugs is basically a form of hunting, and patience is a > part of that. > > HTH - > > MCC > > > -- > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Mark Cassino Photography > Kalamazoo, Michigan > www.markcassino.com > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
