I've had little time for photography and less for blogging recently but I managed a family day out at a local beauty spot; Bedford bridge on the Horrabridge to Tavistock road. It was hot, baking hot, and sensible wildlife was taking refuge against the heat or, in the case of the insects I was interested in, zipping around and never settling. Frustrated, I'd just about given up when I spotted a Golden ringed dragonfly,
Cordulegaster boltonii, patrolling a deeply cut small ravine with a tiny stream at the bottom. I worked my way to the bottom and waited patiently for it to settle. It did, but always remained tantalisingly out of reach. I was working with the 600D and 180mm macro mounted on the tripod for additional stability and I couldn't manoeuvre the combination close enough to the couple of places it did settle to get a shot.
Until it settled on the tripod. And a little lightbulb went off. It wouldn't settle because there was nowhere to settle. Off came the camera from the tripod, out went the tripod to the other side of the little stream, down went my backside on the streambank and, with elbows on knees for support I waited for the dragonfly to return. I wasn't disappointed. Here's a few of the shots.
 |
| Cordulegaster boltonii |
 |
| Cordulegaster boltonii |
 |
| Cordulegaster boltonii |
 |
| Cordulegaster boltonii |
They're all natural light with a little bit of fill flash at either 400 or 800 ISO to give a high enough shutter speed to avoid motion blur from hand holding.
