Two's Company.

[John 2]

Looking back on some images taken last year. There seemed to be a lot of Common Blue Damselflies around on our local reserve.

[NorthernFocus]

Beautifully colored little creatures. Nicely exposed to show them off. In the second shot that something in the BG lined up just perfectly to look like antennae.

[Wavelength]

WOW; what a beauty!!!... in the meanwhile these images evoke some painful thoughts.... in my child i used to seeing much of these friends all around; but why they are extremely rare now.... the industrialization, the chemical fertilizers etc might have destroyed them all? i pray they come back in large numbers and make our Mother Earth more Beautiful....their beauty and slow flight, i can't forget.....

[Dave Humphries]

Great focus and DoF too, John

Cheers,

[jamn4ex]

Yes this is great! I like the heart shape the two in 1 are making.

[bnnrcn]

They are beautiful!

[Geoff F]

Yes, John, I also found quite a lot of Common Blues last year, while the similar Azure Blue was reduced. That species was the more common one in the past few years.

[Shadowman]

Nice, they look animated the colors are so intense.

[FrankMi]

Outstanding detail and colour John!

[John 2]

Thanks all for your comments.

Dan, yet again something I hadn't noticed until someone else pointed it out. I could clone them out but natural history shots are supposed to be a faithful record I guess.

Dave, my favourite lens for this sort of photography - 100mm f2.8 Tokina.

Geoff, Now you've got me worried. I can't see a difference in the images I find on the Web between the Common Blue and the Azure Blue. Whatever these are, they were so plentiful that the difficulty was in isolating them to make a decent image.

[Stagecoach]

Very nice captures John. There's some good geometrical shape in the first.

Grahame

[John 2]

Thanks for commenting Grahame

[Geoff F]

John, very basically, compare the sides of the thorax.

A wide blue stripe means a Common Blue while a narrow stripe plus a short additional black line 'spur' running forwards from the rear of the thorax, underneath the full length line points towards an Azure Blue.

But I am ignoring several uncommon species which are rather similar to an Azure Blue.

ps. With time you will get to know what areas of insects are required for identification and learn to choose the required angles.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi John,

Chatting to someone in a hide last year, I was recommended a book for my ID'ing shots:
Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland (Amazon UK link).

It seems very thorough, with excellent drawings, but even with those and taking Geoff's hints and looking up these two, the chances of identifying them 'on the wing' appear to me to be negligible - unless you have photos from many angles, telling many species apart still seems impossible to me, even when at home and able to pixel peep my photos but perhaps I just lack practice or give up too easily

If you do buy the book, be aware it has been revised many times since its origin in 1997, my copy is dated 2010.

HTH,

[John 2]

Thanks again Geoff. Your inputs add to more than to my photography.

[John 2]

Thanks Dave. I'm a book person and it just so happens that I have a book token to spend in Waterstones waiting for a worthwhile purchase.

[Geoff F]

I use the Britain's Dragonflies book by Dave Smallshire and Andy Swash

It looks like there is a new version pending. I have the previous second edition.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Britains-Dra...ns+Dragonflies

Also available from other outlets. Be careful of the Amazon listing because they have a secondhand copy of the 2nd edition with an asking price of £98.

Should be more like £18.

With a little practice it is quite possible to identify the simpler species of many insects just by looking through the lens. I often do this and then decide if it is 'worth a photo'. Although a common species doing something unusual (or just looking particularly 'nice') is always worth photographing

[John 2]

Just in time Geoff. Dave's suggested reading is out of print although older versions are available on Amazon. Your suggestion is pre orders only at Waterstones with publication expected in 41 days. Just in time for some better weather (I hope).