Sometimes when I open my images on my computer I am pleasantly surprised. I was going through my images from yesterday afternoon and came upon this one.
Click on the image for greater resolution and details
I had been focusing on shooting dragonflies that had stopped to pose on various objects. In this case I am certain that I was looking at the Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) perched on the rolled-up leaf of a lotus plant and never noticed the damselfly in the photo. The damselfly appears to be scaling the leaf, ready to do battle with the dragonfly. The dragonfly seems to be looking down with a little concern, wondering who is trying to challenge his position. When I compare the relative sizes of the two insects, I can’t help but think of the Biblical story of the boy David taking on the giant Goliath. In this case it would essentially be a family feud, since both dragonflies and damselflies are part of the Odonata family.
It’s a lesson to me to check my images carefully when I process them—there may be all kinds of hidden treasures waiting to be discovered.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Your dragonfly photos lately have been awesome. If you are shooting with the telephoto, the technique seems to be working well for you. I have noticed that the resolution of photos after posting on the WordPress blog is much worse than it should be. Do you find that also?
The telephoto zoom seems to work well, but the quality seems a little better if it’s not at max zoom. In terms of WordPress resolution, it seems to be a little variable. Sometimes it seems ok but other times the quality seems to be downgraded.
Love it!
Thanks!
The sme thing happened to me with the goldenrod crab spider. I didn’t see it when i took the phot-only later.
My friend always calls them “bonus bugs.”