a newly emerged Southern Hawker next to its exuvia. This one was almost out of the exuvia by the time I spotted it but the same morning I managed to spot a different Southern Hawker nymph climbing up a reed and photographed the whole emergence. A remarkable process and the first time I've ever found a dragon or damsel nymph before it had started to emerge.
The one thing against me the whole morning was the light, the sunlight was very harsh.
Canon 400D with Sigma 150. F11, 1/200, ISO 200, tripod.
Lovely shot Matt, of a fascinating process. It looks a little bright to me, though. Eric
Posted by Andy Astbury on July 10, 2008 at 4:08 AM
Matt that's a great capture
Great to see the breathing tubes still attached.
To me it doesn't look all that 'bright' - the new emergers are very pale and the nymph case looks pretty spot on - I think the light was perhaps a tad on the harsh side and looking at the colour of the reed stem I think you might have a slight blue/cyan cast in your midtones
Nice BG that isolates the subject very well and image is sharp from edge to edge - nice one Matt
Posted by Matt Doggett on July 10, 2008 at 6:11 AM
Nice image Matt - esp with the breathing tubes (tracheae) still attached.
I know they expand after emerging but it's still amazing to think how did they fit into the previous skin?!
Not too birght for me
Cheers
Matt
thanks for all the comments and thanks Andy for pointing out the colour cast. I have real problems spotting colour casts, not helped by being slightly colour blind
Discussion
9 repliesThe one thing against me the whole morning was the light, the sunlight was very harsh.
Canon 400D with Sigma 150. F11, 1/200, ISO 200, tripod.
All C+C appreciated.
Matt
I've seen this many times and usually without a camera.
Got my 150mm macro due in a couple of days so I can't wait.
Cheers
JohnR
Regards
Ian
Great to see the breathing tubes still attached.
To me it doesn't look all that 'bright' - the new emergers are very pale and the nymph case looks pretty spot on - I think the light was perhaps a tad on the harsh side and looking at the colour of the reed stem I think you might have a slight blue/cyan cast in your midtones
Nice BG that isolates the subject very well and image is sharp from edge to edge - nice one Matt
I know they expand after emerging but it's still amazing to think how did they fit into the previous skin?!
Not too birght for me
Cheers
Matt
Very cool capture Matt , i've only ever seen an emergence once before and that was a Damselfly , great experience , image looks spot on to me too.
Andy...
Stunning capture! Love it!
Greg
Matt