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Female Flame Skimmer

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted June 18, 2014120 views8 comments

D7100, 18-200 @ 200mm, 1/1250, f/9, ISO 400

Saw this beauty in my backyard earlier this week. Its funny that the only other time I saw a dragonfly in my yard, he was perched on a tomato cage too. Must be something about the metal they find attractive.

When I compare this dragonfly shot to the one I took in August 2013, I see my photography is improving, thanks to the help I've received here. It's interesting that an image that I thought looked great a year ago now looks pretty unimpressive to me. Exposure to the great work of the photographers on this site has made me much more critical of my own work and that is a good thing.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on June 18, 2014 at 1:42 PM

Good looking DF!. Quite often, in the thrill of capture, it is hard to think about settings. Lord knows, I have done it often enough myself. But had you narrowed your aperture to say, f/16, you would have gotten the near wings more fully in focus. SS was non-essential for this photo, as the DF was stationary.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Sharron Sims on June 18, 2014 at 2:03 PM

Thanks Phil,
You're right, I don't think I thought very much about the settings. The camera was on aperture priority from a previous shot and I don't think I took the time to change it for fear the DF would leave.

Next time!

Registered on April 28, 2014, 54 Posts, 166 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on June 18, 2014 at 8:16 PM

Really nice, Sharon. I love the color of the dragonfly against the nice bg. Excellent detail as well. Phil's point about the dof is valid, but I also like the bg resulting from the shallower dof. You certainly achieved nice detail throughout the head and body.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on June 19, 2014 at 8:41 AM

Looks good overall Sharon, I agree with Scott.
Only tip I can think of is to get as close as possible when doing macro, minimize the crop.
It will help you present an image with a bit less grain/noise in the future

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on June 19, 2014 at 9:06 AM

Fine catch on this df, Sharron. You've got sharpness where it matters most (head and body) and a great, soft, color matched background.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on June 26, 2014 at 11:18 PM

Love the colors and the BG on this one Sharron,
A nice look at this Dragonfly but I am not a fan of the perch,
Congratulations on the WP . . .

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on June 28, 2014 at 2:38 PM

These creatures fascinate me. I think this is well captured. The aperture is fine; over time it has finally dawned on me to be ultra conscious of the focus point. Having said that, in the excitement of the moment, technicalities tend to be skipped! It takes so much practice and familiarity with equipment to be able to so quickly spin your dials and nail the focus point! Lordy, I'll be at it 'til the end of my days!
Congrats on the Pick.

Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 11, 2014 at 2:28 PM

Really nice image. Tough to get most of the wings in good focus, and you did a fine job.
Congrats on a great image!

Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments