Bluegreen Damsel Fly? (1 Viewer)

I was not even aware that there were damsel flies and dragonflies. But at dusk today I had the usual dragonflies and then this one. I am so dis-heartened that with my closeup feature on my Kodak 3600 this is as close as these bugs will
let me get. Sigh. But will keep on trying. Also my finger on the shutter button tends to ruin many a photo.

hi sparroweye, looks like you found a beautiful Ebony Jewelwing - a male. I think they're one of the most brilliant of all the damsels- Dragonflies and damselflies can be very challenging to photograph and jewelwings are a very flighty species, so congrats on getting the photo :t:

Sparrow,

You may have gotten even a little closer than the camera would focus sharply at. One key is to take lots of photos of the same posed bug at slightly different distances and angles. Another is be sure to get an Xtend-a-View 2x magnifying sunshade eyepiece for your lcd screen. You'll be amazed at the improvements in focus and exposure it will give. Third, I developed a trick for closeups because my last two digicams have far away macro distances like yours.. I already had a Pentax monocular/microscope kit. It was under $100 and has a very good 10x removable magnifier lens that works on a stand with the 7x monocular to make a belt pouch 70x field microscope. I can put the little removable 10x one in my camera belt case.. it's the size of a quarter and 3/8" deep kind of like a soda can lid. I can hold it over my small digital cam lens to turn the 3x power into 30x. I'm sure you can come up with something too. Experiment.

I know it's not, but it looks just like one of the damselfy group we call Demoiselles. Aren't they stunning.

Hi CJW,
Did a bit of research on the net,and the resemblance is due to the Ebony Jewelwing being part of the same genus(Calopteryx)as the demoiselles.
Harry H

Thanks for all the kind replys. This damsel fly comes out every
evening and fights for space with the dragonflys. I shall try
and get some of him from a different angle. He is much more
beautiful than my poor attempts can document. I will try these
suggestions.

Closeups

Forcreeks. Are you saying that you hold the lens in front of your
camera lens manually? Yes, my macro on this Kodak requires
me to be really really close, which is fine with flowers but not
so good with insects. I also have a Fujii 3800 but I have not
become an expert with that nither. I am getting frustrated. I have spent a week trying to good a really clear closeup of my
hummingbirds feeding on my bee balm. I know it is possible
because I accomplished a fairly good shot last year. But for some
reason this year they are very skittish. I am thinking about building a "blind" and getting a tripod.

Hi, I'm sorry to tell you, but this is as good as it get's with the Kodak3600, After month's of complaining to Kodak about the pore quality of the photo's they gave my a brand new camera. Only to fine the new one was no better. In the end we dicided to cut out loses and put it in part exchange for some bit-and -peaces for a new make and model. The camera coast us £199-99 just under a year ago, the £54 for the extra aftercare, and £50 for the camera dock. We got £55 for the lot, and that was with the brand new replacement camera. I would never recommend them to anyone.