Another Red Dragon

I can't believe my luck, after trying for so long to get a red dragon and then getting two on the trot. I nearly blew it though, in order to get DOF, I selected F11 which gave me a very slow shutter speed of 1/20th sec. I was on my belly doing the dragon slither, taking great pain in my elbows. All this was causing a lot of camera shake. I took about twenty F11 shots, but they all went in the bin.

Fortunately, I still had this earlier shot at F5.6, just prior to going to F11. I did want to try a flash shot too, but the elbow pain was becoming severe and I had to shift my position and the regal insect became spooked and was gone. My next project is to make some elbow and knee pads. The things we do for a blip. If I were a professional dragon slayer, I would be thinking motorized trolley on tank tracks, bomb disposal style, what a site that would be.

What a stunning creature this is, I am running out of expletives for dragons, my favorite of the flying insect world, but spiders will always be my number one. Just admire the color of the abdomen, it is as bright as a red hot poker, no color correction involved I promise.

This dragon is of the same family group of dragons as my previous two blips, the wings and the abdomen are the same design. This time the wings are transparent, apart from a little shading at the root of the wings. I wonder how many different species of dragon I have flying around this location. The small stream flowing about 25m from this shot location probably has a lot to do with things, as dragon larvae live in the water.

I am definitely getting better at approaching dragons. It is a matter of understanding how the insect eye works. There is no focusing and therefore no depth perception. The compound bug eye is a group of hundreds of individual light sensors, so what the bug sees is shapes. If you move in too fast, your shape gets bigger and the insect gets spooked. If you move in very slowly, the change in size does not register.

Find a lizard or a jumping spider and watch it hunt, there are plenty of videos on YouTube of bugs and lizards hunting. I watched how they move in on their prey and applied the same techniques, it really works.

Today's tech comment is regarding the solid patches towards the tips of the leading edges of the wings. This is a common feature seen on all dragons. The scientists and aerodynamicists say that this is some kind of balance weight. Although this maybe true, I think it serves a completely different purpose. I need to look into this more before going public.

Dave