Scarlet Basker (Urothemis signata signata) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka
The Scarlet Basker is one of the easiest Dragonflies to identify in Sri Lanka. The male, pictured above, is a bright red colour which borders on being gaudy. They can be seen around most tanks (a tank is a man made lake). I have photographed them on a number of occasions in the past. This post contains photographs I shot on our last trip to Sri Lanka.
More photographs inside.
Scarlet Basker (Urothemis signata signata) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka
In terms of appearance the female, photographed above, is a bit easier on the eye. It is yellow in colour and looks completely different to the male. Early starts paid off with these shots as the dragonflies were sluggish and allowed me to photograph them from quite close.
Scarlet Basker (Urothemis signata signata) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka
When time permits, I would like to attempt to photograph dragonflies with a macro lens and probably the extension tubes. I think the Scarlet Basker would be a good species to target for this, purely based on my luck to date.
Scarlet Basker (Urothemis signata signata) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka
The difficulty in using a macro lens to photograph dragonflies would be handling the external light sources. I don't have a macro lighting kit or a ring flash (yet) so I use my speed lights handheld. I try not to use a tripod as setting it up may disturb the dragonfly.
Scarlet Basker (Urothemis signata signata) - Thalangama, Sri Lanka
These photographs were taken with the Canon 7D and the 100-400mm lens. I didn't have to use additional lighting as there was sufficient natural light when these photographs were taken.
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