Larvae to dragonfly Photo Gallery by Linda Buckell at pbase.com

Larvae to dragonfly

ALL IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT AND MUST NOT BE USED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT MY PRIOR CONSENT

This was the most incredible thing I have witnessed.
Thanks to my husband's sharp eye, he spotted a dragonfly larvae where the head had just burst through the body of the larvae. I couldnt believe my luck!

It was late afternoon about 5.30pm, I had no tripod with me and I have no external flash equipment yet - I hoped I could deal with this situation without total failure. So I crouched down with knees for my support and on board flash, a lot of breath holding on each picture taken. I had to try my best but very dark clouds looming! I thoroughly enjoyed watching this and I hope you enjoy the shots I managed to take. We had to leave at 6.45pm although I would have loved to see the wings open.

IMG_1123.JPG	IMG_1124.JPG	IMG_1125.JPG	IMG_1126.JPG
IMG_1127.JPG	IMG_1128.JPG	IMG_1129.JPG	IMG_1130.JPG
IMG_1131.JPG	IMG_1132.JPG	IMG_1133.JPG	IMG_1134.JPG
IMG_1135.JPG	IMG_1136.JPG	IMG_1137.JPG	IMG_1138.JPG
IMG_1140.JPG	IMG_1141.JPG	IMG_1142.JPG	IMG_1143.JPG
IMG_1144.JPG	IMG_1145.JPG	IMG_1146.JPG	IMG_1147.JPG
IMG_1148.JPG	IMG_1149.JPG	IMG_1150.JPG	IMG_1151.JPG
IMG_1152.JPG	IMG_1154.JPG	IMG_1155.JPG

comment |

Shelau		27-Apr-2009 00:45
Thank you both for having such patience to stay and capture so much of such a rarely wittnessed miracle of nature. Such clarity (did you breath at all!)and diversity of close ups for experiencing its beauty and for revealing this intimacy as it unfolded. What a gift, thank you.

Carole Stevens		30-Aug-2007 13:20
Outstanding gallery WOW what a find, what special moments to see this, great job!

Shane Frazier		29-Apr-2007 04:33
Wow, great find. Those are amazing shots!

Toby		04-Apr-2007 23:55
lucky you, something I definitely want to witness this year - I see hundreds of cast off skins so I know where to look!

455 rocket		16-Jul-2006 14:19
A tremendous sequence that belongs in a biology text book!

Bonnie Perry		15-May-2006 20:49
Awesome sequence of images! What a treat to watch this fascinating process of emergence unfold...thanks so much for sharing!

Robert Whetton		10-Mar-2006 16:14
WOW what a great sequence to get! well done!!

klickthis.com		08-Mar-2006 22:57
Absolutely amazing! Quite spooky looking at the new dragonfly whilst the old dead carcase is beside it still stuck to the leaf. Amazing, if only we humans could do that! I hope you got the circulation back in your legs Linda after bending down for so long :(

Erich Mangl		16-Jan-2006 23:18
a wonderful educational sequence, quite an experience to walk through

Sayer		28-Jun-2005 16:26
Fantastic sequence of photos!

beverley harrison		04-Jun-2005 12:30
great collection, well spotted linda.

MattL		04-Jun-2005 11:51
Great sequence Linda. Not many of us are lucky enough to see that.

Geoff Large		03-Jun-2005 23:40
fantastic pictures Linda . Ive not had chance this year to observe them myself . Geoff

Peter Chou		03-Jun-2005 07:08
Excellent nature photography!

Peter Hollinger		02-Jun-2005 17:09
Thanks, Linda. Excellent sequence!

Linda Buckell		01-Jun-2005 15:14
Thanks everyone for your nice comments. I am so glad you enjoyed the sequence. Next job is to try and tidy up a couple and put in my 'A closer look' gallery.

Pic Chick		01-Jun-2005 02:32
Phenomenal captures! I have never seen anything like this and am so glad I checked out your post. Vote!

Dang		01-Jun-2005 00:38
Fantastic gallery, and a great job. Gets my vote.

Duncan Smith		31-May-2005 23:10
A wonderful sequence, and you've coped well with challenging lighting conditions. Flash with macro is a bearfight, isn't it?

Agron Deralla		31-May-2005 09:21
Your concept of this story is very cool and interesting. As you said it, it is a realy incredible thing to witness and very rare i think. I just voted for this one cause this is very amazing story of a simple insect getting its wings and transformin into a new species.

Charles Durrant		30-May-2005 23:13
An awesome sequence of photos Linda. A good overall record and there are some individual shots which will polish up well with a little post processing. Congratulations for outstanding work in very difficult conditions.

Linda Buckell		30-May-2005 22:02
Thanks so much Sharon - the shutter speeds were horrendously low and I was hoping and praying they werent too blurred. Very very difficult situation but I am not disappointed with the results all things considered. A lot of undergrowth surrounding the larvae made it very hard to do. All shots straight from camera, no cropping and only a little bit of unsharp mask. The areas I focussed on are sharper on the original but I wanted to get as much in view as possible to give the perspective of what was going on - very small aperture needed for this and tough going!

Sharon Rogers		30-May-2005 21:55
Vote! Really interesting images, shame you couldn't stay for the end of the show! Looked plenty light enough too.

click on thumbnails for full image

Type your message and click Add Comment

It is best to login or register first but you may post as a guest. Enter an optional name and contact email address. Name
Name Email
help	private comment