Mission of a Dragonfly

Bluesteel · 8th January 2007

Sharing a series of shots of a dragonfly in an Air Strike Mission.

High Flight

Low Level Ingress

Pop-Up Attack

Dive Bombing

Egress....**Mission Control , Dragon 1 , all bombs on target!**

Enjoy!

cheers!

Ravenfoo · 8th January 2007

how did u do that? amazing!

yZong · 8th January 2007

fwah.. sui sia....

Dragonfly in flight... moments.. super hard to take...

melvynyeo · 8th January 2007

Truly impressive!!!!!!!

tanhb · 8th January 2007

I salute you.

airforce1 · 8th January 2007

Great series. I still practicing touch down. Not easy to take. Thanks for sharing.

pacer · 8th January 2007

The titles made me laugh. The shots are beautiful as a series.

kross · 8th January 2007

great flight shots!

cheers....

digisnap · 9th January 2007

Must be difficult to take these close-up shots of a small, fast moving object. Good job.

eAgles · 9th January 2007

WOW!!

Stevewhy · 9th January 2007

Very nice series

can't get enough after so long Hahaha....

Thank for sharing

Cherjier · 9th January 2007

incredible skills...salute u

megaweb · 10th January 2007

Great moment for hovering shots.

I find the shot is slight oversharpen with too much contrast.

Bluesteel · 11th January 2007

Thanks Megaweb for viewing and the valuable comments!

Slight oversharpening and contrast are noted with thanks!

Outlook · 11th January 2007

Pre-manual focus or continuous servo AF?

chaesal · 11th January 2007

Amazing shoot....

How did you do that? Do you mind sharing with us?

Bluesteel · 11th January 2007

Hi Guys !

Thank you all for the compliments and comments.

It was my first attempt for a flight shot of the dragonfly.It was my good fortune that the subject matters was co-operative for a couple of minutes. It was a male that was hovering at mid air looking for a mate.

I tried using manual focus but it was well nigh impossible to achieve a satisfactory focus. Finally it was the continuous servo AF mode of the Canon 20D that did the job in getting a reasonable focus.

The wing-beat-rate of the dragonfly at a hover was exceptionally high and to somewhat freeze the motion blur, ISO 800 and shutter speed of between 1/500- 1/800 sec, and the "machine gun" mode of up to 5 frames/sec had to be used to counter the erratic movement of the dragonfly to secure some reasonable shots.

In all it was a chance encounter of the very challenging kind!! And I am glad that I managed to secure some just-made-it shots to share with all here.

GeckoZ · 11th January 2007

Powershot ar bro! Did you blur the background or was it blurred by the macro lens on it's own?? I'm wondering if it would be better leaving some details in the background...

Bluesteel · 11th January 2007

Hi Geckoz,

The background are all original , the closest tree and shrubs where the photo was taken was at least 10 metres away so even at F/9-F/14 the Tamron 180 mm macro gives a reasonably uncluttered background.

Only some sharpening and adjustment of curve were carried out with PS CS2 on the pictures and Noise Ninja used to clear the rather noise pictures as they were taken at ISO 800.

GeckoZ · 11th January 2007

Originally Posted by Bluesteel

Hi Geckoz,

The background are all original , the closest tree and shrubs where the photo was taken was at least 10 metres away so even at F/9-F/14 the Tamron 180 mm macro gives a reasonably uncluttered background.

Only some sharpening and adjustment of curve were carried out with PS CS2 on the pictures and Noise Ninja used to clear the rather noise pictures as they were taken at ISO 800.

thanks for sharing!

8th January 2007	#1
Bluesteel Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,011	Mission of a Dragonfly Sharing a series of shots of a dragonfly in an Air Strike Mission. High Flight Low Level Ingress Pop-Up Attack Dive Bombing Egress....Mission Control , Dragon 1 , all bombs on target! Enjoy! cheers! Last edited by Bluesteel; 8th January 2007 at 03:20 PM.

8th January 2007	#2
Ravenfoo Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: kluang, Johore, Msia & Spore Posts: 174	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly how did u do that? amazing!

8th January 2007	#3
yZong Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: 长山 Posts: 332	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly fwah.. sui sia.... Dragonfly in flight... moments.. super hard to take...

8th January 2007	#4
melvynyeo Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,937	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Truly impressive!!!!!!!

8th January 2007	#5
tanhb Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 657	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly I salute you.

8th January 2007	#6
airforce1 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 2,150	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Great series. I still practicing touch down. Not easy to take. Thanks for sharing.

8th January 2007	#7
pacer Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Singapore Posts: 79	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly The titles made me laugh. The shots are beautiful as a series.

8th January 2007	#8
kross Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: earth Posts: 1,271	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly great flight shots! cheers....

9th January 2007	#9
digisnap Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 557	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Must be difficult to take these close-up shots of a small, fast moving object. Good job.

9th January 2007	#10
eAgles Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Asia Southernmost Tip Posts: 669	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly WOW!!

9th January 2007	#11
Stevewhy Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 1,006	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Very nice series can't get enough after so long Hahaha.... Thank for sharing

9th January 2007	#12
Cherjier Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 76	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly incredible skills...salute u

10th January 2007	#13
megaweb Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: East Posts: 8,125	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Great moment for hovering shots. I find the shot is slight oversharpen with too much contrast.

11th January 2007	#14
Bluesteel Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,011	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Thanks Megaweb for viewing and the valuable comments! Slight oversharpening and contrast are noted with thanks!

11th January 2007	#15
Outlook Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: West Posts: 2,034	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Pre-manual focus or continuous servo AF?

11th January 2007	#16
chaesal Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 107	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Amazing shoot.... How did you do that? Do you mind sharing with us?

11th January 2007	#17
Bluesteel Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,011	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Hi Guys ! Thank you all for the compliments and comments. It was my first attempt for a flight shot of the dragonfly.It was my good fortune that the subject matters was co-operative for a couple of minutes. It was a male that was hovering at mid air looking for a mate. I tried using manual focus but it was well nigh impossible to achieve a satisfactory focus. Finally it was the continuous servo AF mode of the Canon 20D that did the job in getting a reasonable focus. The wing-beat-rate of the dragonfly at a hover was exceptionally high and to somewhat freeze the motion blur, ISO 800 and shutter speed of between 1/500- 1/800 sec, and the "machine gun" mode of up to 5 frames/sec had to be used to counter the erratic movement of the dragonfly to secure some reasonable shots. In all it was a chance encounter of the very challenging kind!! And I am glad that I managed to secure some just-made-it shots to share with all here. Last edited by Bluesteel; 11th January 2007 at 05:50 PM.

11th January 2007	#18
GeckoZ Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Telok Blangah Posts: 658	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Powershot ar bro! Did you blur the background or was it blurred by the macro lens on it's own?? I'm wondering if it would be better leaving some details in the background...

11th January 2007	#19
Bluesteel Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 1,011	Re: Mission of a Dragonfly Hi Geckoz, The background are all original , the closest tree and shrubs where the photo was taken was at least 10 metres away so even at F/9-F/14 the Tamron 180 mm macro gives a reasonably uncluttered background. Only some sharpening and adjustment of curve were carried out with PS CS2 on the pictures and Noise Ninja used to clear the rather noise pictures as they were taken at ISO 800.