My Favourite Image Copulating Common Blues (Enallagma cyathigerum)

This pair of Common Blue Damselflies are in the act of mating or copulation.

They can be seen in the wheel position & are firmly attached to each other. The males anal claspers are fixed to the rear of the females head.

The Common Blue is easy to photograph in this position as they generally fully close their wings which are parallel to the body. Some other species and in particular the males tend to splay their wings, creating depth of field issues, provided your aim is to obtain full subject focus. The Large Red & the Azure Damsel-flies are prone to do this.

This pair of damsel-flies were perched on a fairly isolated aquatic stem allowing me to select a wide depth of field. This enabled full subject focus to be obtained but also enabled the backdrop to remain nicely blurred which clearly accentuates the subjects detail.