Dragon laying

I went to the waterfall location today with the specific intent of getting a dragon laying shot. The light was disappointing so I lifted the ISO to 1600 to get a reasonable shutter speed without getting too grainy.

I took an embarrassing number of shots for such a small return and still didn't get what I wanted. I came close, but those shots had focus problems and went in the bin. The shot I am looking for is like this one only sharper and with the male in shot, but this is looking more unlikely with each attempt, so I have decided to go with the best of today's.

After studying other dragon laying shots on Google and there are some tremendous images here on blip too, it seems that different species have different techniques. Some land on a stalk and wipe the eggs on the stalk below the surface, but what I am seeing is the female wiping the eggs onto surface weed or as in this case, wiping onto clear water.

The clear water wipe is a lot more violent in order to dislodge the eggs and this dabbing action sends up a spout of water which I found quite pleasing in the image. I know I am going to regret putting this image out, as a better shot is bound to come my way tomorrow! In fact, after writing this far, I padded up and went out for another session, but came back with a tin of mediocrity, so you will have to make do with this for today!

Dave