Weekly Challange - Re-Post

I like this very much, Charlie. I assume the crop came off one or both ends? If so, you could use a little of the spare to bring the image slightly less centered. Or perhaps you could deliberately rotate to a more angular image. The BG is nice, but it makes it difficult to make the wings stand out. I'm wondering if a little selective brightening, or possibly a midtone brightening via a levels adjustment. Because the detail and color is really good, a little tweaking could go a long way to make this good image better.

Terrific job, with excellent details in the wings and the body. I agree with Phil that it would be nice to see the wing details more easily, but this is still an excellent shot. It's a new DF for me, so I looked it up. Looks like a Western Pondhawk.

Thanks you guys. For the suggestions Phil, which I want to try and will re-post if I get it better and to you, Mark because I couldn't ID this from my guide. I wonder if this is maybe not a common one out west?

Here is a somewhat re-worked version. I think it improved the contrast between the wings and green (pond) background but it brought up a light area in the lower right.

Comments very welcome.

Charlie, my source is "Dragonflies through Binoculars" by Sidney W. Dunkle. The detailed description indicates that this is either a female or an immature. The mature males turn dark gray-blue. They are listed as a common western DF. I have the Eastern version at my backyard pond most of the summer where they like to rest on the flat rocks or strong horizontal leaves.

The repost is significantly improved and really makes the wing veins easy to see. I'm not bothered at all by the slightly lighter background in the LR. In fact, I don't think I'd have noticed if you hadn't of pointed it out.

Thanks for that info, Mark. If this is an immature that is likely the reason I felt I had not seen one before. I'll look into that guide as the one i use has limited DF info. Glad you guys commented and that this improved the shot.

What a fantastic color and the details are excellent. It's nice to have the entire bug in focus. The centered composition works well in this case - and the very soft background is just right. The stick might be a bit distracting because it's so bright behind the dragonfly... but it doesn't bother me too much. This really is a beautiful portrait. Well done... and I'm glad you could find something for this week's challenge!