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Mating


Mating
Photo Information
Copyright: jaap polak (carper) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2009 W: 122 N: 2581] (8424)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-05-23
Categories: Insects
Camera: Canon 40D, Tamron 90mm macro
Exposure: f/13.0, 1/40 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-05-28 8:16
Viewed: 919
Points: 54
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Eggs are laid in emerging plants, in floating vegetation, or directly in the water. The hatched eggs do not go through the larval and pupal stages.

A naiad (nymph of damselfly) lives in water, has an elongated body, long legs, and three leaf-like appendages or gills on its tail. These appendages are used for oxygen transport. A naiad molts several times before emerging. At this stage, naiads are very good predators. They prey aquatic insects and other arthropods within their reach. They grab their prey with their modified lower jaw. At the last stage, a naiad swims out of the water and clings to a plant to dry its skin. After a few minutes of drying in the sun, its outer skin splits open at the head and the adult damselfly strains to pull itself out of its old skin. The new legs harden to hold onto the plant. Its wings slowly expand and are pumped open by fluid from its abdomen.

An adult damselfly has a long thin body which is green, blue, red, yellow, black, or brown and is often brightly colored. It has an oblong head with bulging eyes and very short antennae. When resting, it holds its four large membranous wings of nearly equal size vertically rather than horizontally. It is a delicate and weak-flying insect. Its wings are usually clear except for a spot at the end of the wing called a stigma. The male sex organ is located at the front part of the abdomen. Damselflies commonly fly in pairs during mating. Damselfly adults use their hind legs, which are covered with hairs to capture prey as they fly. They hold the prey in their legs and devour it by chewing. Adults are usually found flying near plants, usually in irrigated rice fields during the daytime throughout the year. The damselfly's mating pattern is unusual. The male deposits sperm by bending the abdomen forward and then clasping the female behind the head with its claspers on the tip of his abdomen. The female then loops her abdomen forward and picks up the sperm from the male. The mating pairs are seen flying and clinging in tandem. Most species have one generation per year depending on the species, although they complete their life cycle from 1-2 years. ConservationDamselflies live in rice paddies, streams, and ponds with good water quality at low and middle elevations. They are often used as an indicator of whether the water is clean or not (IRRI, 2001). To conserve them, avoid using indiscriminate use of pesticides.

I used a monopod here and I took the photo on 100 iso.
I hope you like it.
gr. jaap
jaycee, eng55, Gert-Paassen, Argus, Amadeo, jeanpaul, aes_thor, uleko, Pentaxfriend, marmottelolo, mariki, peter_stoeckl, jhm, Alex99, marhowie has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2493 W: 11 N: 6885] (21912)
  • [2008-05-28 8:19]

Hi Jaap,

Beautiful damselflys and an extraordinarily beautiful picture. You froze the moment perfectly. Wonderful colors and sharp sharp details. The setting is spectacular. A marvelous composition. I love it!

Jane

  • Great 
  • eng55 Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1126 W: 32 N: 1113] (3440)
  • [2008-05-28 8:25]

Hi Jaap,
Magnificent macro job.
Exposure is spot on,details are crisp clear.Sharpness,colors,BG and composition are perfect.Very well done!
Thanks for posting.

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2380 W: 94 N: 5487] (17484)
  • [2008-05-28 8:27]

Hallo buurman Jaap,
Een foto in schitterende kleuren. Het paars in de aren en het blauw in libellen steken prachtig af tegen de achtergrond. Erg goede scherpte en een uitstekende compositie.
Groet,
Peter

nice capture, good find and timing. Great colors

  • Great 
  • batu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1059 W: 290 N: 3942] (13328)
  • [2008-05-28 8:59]

Hello Jaap,
a perfectly composed picture with respect to geometry and colours.
Point of view and display window are best selected to present the well-focused damselfly couple.
Best wishes, Peter

Hallo Jaap,

mooie opname van deze juffers.
Goede scherpte met rustige achtergrond.

Gert

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3802 W: 190 N: 11310] (34871)
  • [2008-05-28 9:46]

Hello Jaap,
A great macro of a pair of Ischnura elegans damselflies in copulo taken from a perfect POV. beautiful composition on the grass heads against a fine OOF natural BG.
TFS this superb image.
Groet,
Ivan

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1899 W: 36 N: 5578] (18516)
  • [2008-05-28 9:50]

Hi Jaap,
Outstanding shot of these mating damselflies with lovely colours and details. Superb lighting and exposure and very interesting posture. Excellent DOF isolates the subjects from the BG nicely and I like your parallel POV to portray them. Very nicely composed. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

  • Great 
  • Amadeo Gold Star Critiquer [C: 211 W: 0 N: 755] (3323)
  • [2008-05-28 10:04]

Hola Jaap, muy bonita y acertada composición, nitida con buena luz y color. Un saludo

bonjour Jaap
C'est une jolie macro de ces demoiselles à la "love time". Bonne maîtrise de la DOF, BG bien flou.
Merci et bravo...JP

Hi Jaap,
Great composition, very interesting picture, perfect light and colours.
TFS
Adrian

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2904 W: 34 N: 8600] (32056)
  • [2008-05-28 12:04]

Hi Jaap. What a good close up of the pair of blue damselflies . You have captured such fine detail with your sharp focusing. good use of the light to give bright colours. A very good POV/DOF. well done TFS.
Nick..

Ha Jaap,

Prachtig shot van deze juffers
Uitstekend POV
prima scherpte

TFS Thijs

Hi Jaap, splendid couple of damselfly in love with wonderful colors, superb details and great sharpness, very well done, ciao Silvio

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2986 W: 162 N: 929] (2735)
  • [2008-05-29 3:41]

Hello Jaap,
Wonderful view of these Damselflies hanging on to the grasses. Both are very sharply in focus and details very clear and colours are lovely. A fine background too in this excellent composition.
Many thanks and regards, Ulla

  • Great 
  • lousat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1971 W: 6 N: 5513] (19621)
  • [2008-05-29 4:16]

Hi Jaap,you was lucky to found a situation like that and a great photographer to take so perfectly this wonderfull moment,just my best compliments for the note too,thanks for share,Luciano

  • Great 
  • EOSF1 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1381 W: 126 N: 5246] (23469)
  • [2008-05-29 7:21]

Hello Jaap, very nice macro! Very sharp details, great moment and a very good composition, thanks!

Mario

bonjour jaap
voila une jolie scene,avec beaucoup d'espace autour des amoureux,j'ai aussi une photo dans ce genre a publier mais plus serré et c'est une autre espece de demoiselle.
bravo.
laurent

  • Great 
  • wuta Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 856 W: 2 N: 617] (2142)
  • [2008-05-29 13:06]

Hallo , Weer een prachtige foto van de damsels , hele mooie compositie en kleuren ,groeten teunie .

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2001 W: 226 N: 6845] (24727)
  • [2008-05-29 14:19]

Very good macro of these mating Damselflies!
Brilliant DOF and BG.
Superb sharpness too.
The lighting is perfect!

Well done, Jaap,
Joe

Hello Jaap,

Excellent composition and a good framing. Very good sharpness. Well-saturated colours.
Cheers,

Mariki

Hi Jaap,
wonderful couple, perfect composition. I love the distant yellow dotted background of a meadow in spring.
Thank you! With best regards,
Peter

  • Great 
  • jhm Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 649 W: 0 N: 178] (628)
  • [2008-05-31 9:21]

Dag Jaap,

Niet een maar twee en dan nog in een positie dat men zo maar niet elke dag kan zien, het paringsgedrag.
U bent zonder meer een artist op dit gebied, en dan nog mooi met de geblurde achtergrond.
Zeer mooi foto werk Jaap, mijn tijd voor dergelijk werk is momenteel op een laag pitje, sport schema heeft perioriteit.

Groeten,
John.

  • Great 
  • hester Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1515 W: 18 N: 3165] (11638)
  • [2008-06-06 12:01]

Hi Jaap

Perfectly composed and I love the POV. Sharp, detailed and with beautiful colours. You have shown this beautifully

TFS

Karan

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2008-06-09 12:05]

Hello Carper

A neat pose you have captured.
The focus and details are sharp.
Lovely colours and lighting.
The pov is excellent.
I like the setting, the grasses make a good perch.
Visually pleasing to look at.
TFS

Rob

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3581 W: 143 N: 5669] (18529)
  • [2008-06-17 10:03]

Hi Jaap.
Once more simply outstanding of subject and quality image. Ears and two fine insects create a wonderful composition. DOF, details, sharpness of the main subject and smooth impressive BG as well as the composition and framing of the image are great. Bravo.
Alexei.

Great work Jaap!
Excellent DOF and details and I really like your BG here mf.
Nice color, exposure, and comp as well :)
Howard

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