Emergence of a Black darter dragonfly

[Jonathan Ashton]

• Adobe Photoshop 2023 Windows

• Adobe Photoshop 2023 Windows

• Adobe Photoshop 2023 Windows

I went down to my local reserve and noticed an exuvia. It had just emerged from the pond so I set up my gear and waited...... for approximately 3hr in total

Om-1 60mm macro lens stacked images using Zerene Stacker and ACR/PSCC

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Oh wow... this is really special, Jon! Your patience truly paid off:bg3:

Wonderful sequence well processed, well framed, and some nice detail on the subject.

Interesting to see those visible membranes and veins on the dragonfly wings. I wonder why the subject clings to the empty larval shell after emerging?

Really appreciate your post as it shows behaviour, and I do realise it must have taken quite a bit of time to process all three images.
Thank you so much for sharing, I truly appreciate it:cheers:

Kind regards,

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Gabriela glad you liked it. The reason it clings to the shell or exuvia is to dry out in order that it can then open its wings laterally and then fly,

I can't help but feel the images look a little flat perhaps the greens are not there, for some reason I was struggling.

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Jon, thank you so much for explanation. Perhaps a curve adjustment to the dragonfly might bring it out a bit more? Some vibrance or saturation? I would play a bit, I think there's a lot you can do. I find this so interesting, worth spending a bit more time on those images :S3: