A slender predator
Click for greater size and clarity.
And now back to my visit on August 31, 2012, to the Doeskin Ranch, a nature preserve in Burnet County about an hour northwest of Austin. Another thing I saw there was a damselfly eating a tiny insect.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Great capture (in more ways than one LOL). The detail is amazing!
photosfromtheloonybin
January 14, 2013 at 6:45 AM
It’s often not the case, but here I was able to aim perpendicular to the body axis of the damselfly and therefore get everything in focus at an aperture of f/8. As always, I give most of the credit for details to my macro lens.
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 7:57 AM
Merveilleuse macro! Ici, les libellules ne reviendront que cet été.
La beauté de ta photo en fait oublier la mort.
Bonne journée
val
lancoliebleue
January 14, 2013 at 7:07 AM
Merci, Val. Ici il y a des libellules et des demoiselles la plupart des mois (mais rarement, comme maintenant, en janvier).
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 8:05 AM
Sweetly enticing–nature at its rawest and most beautiful. Nicely captured.
lensandpensbysally
January 14, 2013 at 7:32 AM
I’d read that dragonflies and damselflies are carnivorous, but it took me several years to finally see one eating something. I still don’t often see that, so I’m grateful when a picture opportunity like this one comes my way.
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 8:08 AM
Beautiful capture Steve and even more in full screen
Thanks for sharing
chatou11
January 14, 2013 at 8:58 AM
You’re welcome. And the original, which is much larger, has even more detail.
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 9:31 AM
This macro is beautiful !!
GuillaumeGuillaume
January 14, 2013 at 12:56 PM
I’m glad you find it so.
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 1:42 PM
wonderful detail in this macro. Overall colors are beautiful of entire photo.
petspeopleandlife
January 14, 2013 at 2:26 PM
Thanks. I was pleased with the sharpness.
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 2:32 PM
That’s a beautiful picture! And to have a mouthful too. That needs to be framed and hung.
naturesnippets
January 14, 2013 at 3:07 PM
Thanks, and thanks for the suggestion.
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 4:04 PM
Very nice picture ! Great job !
lemarcal
January 14, 2013 at 3:47 PM
Merci. J’ai eu de la chance.
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 4:05 PM
La chance ne suffit pas, il faut savoir en profiter et c’est ce que tu as fait. Bravo !
lemarcal
January 14, 2013 at 4:17 PM
Merci encore une fois, tu es très gentil.
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 4:34 PM
We’ve nominated your blog for an award (or two, or three…), if you accept them. If not, just consider it a token of our esteem! 🙂 See our post at http://windagainstcurrent.com/2013/01/13/award-appreciation-we-thank-our-readers-for/
Vladimir Brezina
January 14, 2013 at 4:35 PM
Thank you, Vladimir and Johna. You two have been recognized many times, and deservedly so. When the subject of awards came up for me a couple of years ago, I thought about it and ultimately decided that my posts and people’s comments on them would be reward enough. I appreciate your thinking of me (and safeguarding the area I grew up in).
Steve Schwartzman
January 14, 2013 at 5:27 PM
I will always remember my first effort at photographing dragonflies. I had not realized how many different varieties existed. A magical moment, and it’s wonderful to gaze on the photo of a pro.
Susan Scheid
January 15, 2013 at 5:37 PM
Sometimes I’ve found it easy, and other times hard, to photograph dragonflies and damselflies. I keep trying, because until I do there’s no way to know which individuals will fly away and which will stay put (or quickly return). Luckily there have been magical moments, so I can be optimistic and look forward to more.
Steve Schwartzman
January 15, 2013 at 6:41 PM
Very nice shot, Steve!
montucky
January 15, 2013 at 9:32 PM
Thanks, Terry.
Steve Schwartzman
January 15, 2013 at 10:32 PM
This is such a marvelous image. It’s such a “clean” image, almost tidy. The damselfly looks as though it’s eating its prey with the same care we used to use at the Sunday dinner table at Grandma’s. The only piece of chicken we were allowed to eat with our fingers was the drumstick, and we were so careful! I have a feeling that if we really enlarged this photo, we’d find a tiny, white damask napkin tucked around the damselfly’s neck!
shoreacres
January 18, 2013 at 9:11 AM
I like your description. Because I was able to aim perpendicular to the axis of the damselfly, all parts of it came out sharp, which is usually not the case. You do have a good imagination if you can see a damask (from Damascus, by the way) napkin around the damselfly’s neck: another instance of past events conditioning present perception.
Steve Schwartzman
January 18, 2013 at 9:31 AM