Dragonfly nymph

[Steve Maxson]

This nymph is one of the Darner dragonflies (Family Aeschnidae). These are among the largest dragonfly nymphs and are rather formidable predators in the freshwater invertebrate world. These nymphs will sometimes sit and wait for prey to come near, but they will often actively stalk prey. This one was stalking a predaceous diving beetle larva when I took the photo. 2.5 gallon aquarium setup, 1D IV, 100 mm macro, 1/125, f/16, ISO 160, 2 remotely fired 430EX flashes (manual mode, diffused), tripod, live view manual focus, mirror lock, cable release. I removed some of the floating bits of debris in the water and ran nr on the background. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[John Robinson]

Hi Steve - thats amazing ! I just switced on to load a pic. Guess what-yes an Aeshnid nymph !!
It can wait.
This is good. They look a little different from ours but the habits are the same. I like the weed and backckdrop but just the thick pale green stem just left of centre drags my eye a tad. Like the coloured marks along the sides- non of ours have those- or coloured bodies. The mask looks a mean weapon.
Great stuff.
John

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super shot Steve, the nymph looks pretty formidable, and is in excellent focus. My only reservation is the colour in the background - a slightly odd looking bluey/green. But that nymph couldn't be any better!

[Gabriela Plesea]

Brilliant image and what lovely detail - I enjoyed viewing this so much! Great colours, great composition-stunning work Steve!

Kind regards,