Slaty Skimmer dragonfly

Are you tired of Slaty Skimmers yet? (Yes? Well, too bad, cuz I shot an awful lot of them yesterday.)

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Monochromatic study, Slaty Skimmer dragonfly

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

 

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly

It’s obvious I spent quite a bit of time stalking Slaty Skimmers at Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens yesterday afternoon! Several of these beauties kept coming back to this same bare branch and I stayed close by to capture various angles. It was a great opportunity to experiment with varying depth-of-field, exposures and compositions.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

One more Slaty Skimmer dragonfly…

One more Slaty Skimmer dragonfly shot…I usually like to diffuse the light when I can with my tri-grip diffuser (for more saturated color and even lighting on my subject), but sometimes the sunlight works in my favor. In this case, the sunlight illuminated my subject and my background…and the shallow depth of field renders the Sacred lotus leaves as glowing abstract shapes.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula incesta); photographed against a backdrop of sunlit Sacred lotus leaves; Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly

Slaty Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula incesta); males have blue/black bodies and black heads; photographed against a backdrop of sunlit Sacred lotus leaves; Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.