by Jim Zablotny
My nemesis is the Eastern amberwing. Normally, they perch on a snag close to the water meaning that you have to get wet to get an optimal photograph. Yesterday, the wind gusts ranged up to 40 mph and the dragonflies were hugging the shoreline vegetation. I took about 200 shots of these odonates. This was one of the better ones and hope for better lighting for the next round. K5 IIs 180mm f3.5 (1/50 sec at f16, ISO 500) Levels, Highlight reduction. Shadows & Highlights, Topaz Details, added space on top, dust removal and softened the highlight in the eye with a Gaussian blur layer and mask...............................Jim
Comments
11 commentsWow, that's some colorful DF, Jim. I don't recall ever seeing one of these either in person or in a photo. Really amazing orange (amber) color. Terrific shot. Looking forward to see if you can actually top this. The body detail is excellent, especially under the conditions.
This amber really pops with this solid BG, great contrast to subject Jim..
Nicely managed exposure & sharp details with excellent DOF.
Well done, especially under the conditions you faced
These little ones are hard to photograph. This one really pops, with terrific details in the body against a fine background. I am curious about why you do a blur on the eye highlight. Is that simply to tone down it's brightness?
Jim: Looks darn good to me. I know for me its always satisfying to get a good image of a subject that has vexed me. Congrats on a fine capture. >=))>
In response to Mark regarding highlight in the eye: Sharpening and reducing the brightness of the highlight in the eye of dragonflies tends to produce a doughnut shaped highlight. A slight softening of the highlight coupled with burning in the area produces a much more subtle highlight without the artifact of darkening and doughnut .shaped highlight.......................Jim
Jim - Two sets of implied opposing diagonals in the frame
- Never seen one in person..Looks just awesome.
Jim
This is beautiful (both the DF and the photography). Awesome details for 40 mph wind conditions. You must be very patient to do 200+ shots in this condition but your effort has paid off handsomely.
grfeat detail and color. The dof is just right and the green background is the right color.
Amazing orange color, Jim. I have never seen one before. Well done under difficult windy condition. Congrats on a new capture in your nice collection of DF images.
Hi Jim
All has been said about this exceptional DF shot.!! i might add Rams last words " just looks awesome"
Albert Darmo
Canada
Perfect pose and composition. I love the simplicity and solid green bg. No nits from me.