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15 Comments
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Dan
Guest
Dan
15 years ago

I was at a wedding this weekend, and I realized that I am a horrible photographer. I also realized that I’m a tad bit jealous of people who can take really nice photographs.

davidscubadiver
Guest
15 years ago

Don’t blame yourself if its at all possible to blame the subjects of your pictures. Perhaps they were just not very photogenic. In any case, a photograph is just a moment in time – and the biggest challenge is to capture a moment in time that is of interest to the viewer.

Sure, composition is important too – for instance, in my pictures of sharks, I HATE the ones that have the rope/chum-line in the picture. Who wants to see such an ugly thing when looking at a shark? Yet, being surrounded by such beautiful animals gave plenty of opportunity for “better” pictures and some that came out quite nice!

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
15 years ago

Kym, maybe it is dragonfly dandruff?

Oscarandre
Guest
15 years ago

Photos like this remind us how much beauty the world contains, Kym.

forkboy
Guest
15 years ago

You know…..now I’m depressed. I was so excited by my handful of dragonfly pics, but they just suck compared to this. This is AWESOME!

But to be fair you really need to tell us what lens you were shooting with.

Eel River Ernie
Guest
Eel River Ernie
15 years ago

Kym, great photos!!! I couldn’t find out what the fuzzy stuff is but I did find out that this is a Cordulegaster dorsalis (Pacific Spiketail)and if you really want to know more about them Google up “California Dragonflys,” very interesting.

Olm
Guest
Olm
15 years ago

“And what is all that fuzzy white stuff around the neck.”

Setae.

Olm
Guest
Olm
15 years ago

“that fuzzy white stuff around the neck.”

Setae.

Elaine
Guest
15 years ago

What a beauty! Starched collar?

Mjean
Guest
Mjean
15 years ago

Olm – I had no idea what setae was – so those who may be as uneducated as I am, here is what Webster has to say:
Seta Se”ta, n.; pl. Set[ae]. [L. seta, saeta, a bristle.]
1. (Biol.) Any slender, more or less rigid, bristlelike organ
or part; as the hairs of a caterpillar, the slender spines
of a crustacean, the hairlike processes of a protozoan,
the bristles or stiff hairs on the leaves of some plants,
or the pedicel of the capsule of a moss.

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
15 years ago

He sorta resembles Jerry Seinfeld in Bee movie, don’t you think?

Olm
Guest
Olm
15 years ago

Ooops! Should’ve explained ‘setae’; thanks for the elucidation, Mjean.

Setae are visible on the thorax of the dragonfly in Kym’s photo of June 27th, too.
Both bugs have setae around the face, and the one from the 27th has some at the wing junctions, too.

The neck’s actually an extension of the thorax; look closely, and you maybe able to see that the first pair of legs are set so far forward on the thorax, they’re actually connected to the ‘neck’!

The ovipositor (egg-layer) is visible on the bug in the earlier photo: it’s a female.

Great detail in your photos, Kym! Didja y’all notice the faint shadow of the wings on the rose?! Wow! It seems, the shadow on the petal in front is actually projecting through the thin petal! Fantastic!

Tj
Guest
Tj
15 years ago

Wow again. What fantastic photos.

aussiegall
Guest
aussiegall
14 years ago

wow, what a stunner. Love his blue eyes, great capture.

Staff
Member
14 years ago

I think his eyes are actually the yellow spots closer to the front of his head but I’m no expert. And Forkboy I just realized that I never answered what lens I took this with–aNIkkor 18-55mm. I just have two, one for closeups, one for the rest. As you can see I’m not very scientific.