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Realm of the Red Dragon
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Realm of the Red Dragon

by Wayne Jones

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted September 29, 2015158 views5 comments


I wanted to portray this calico pennant perched above his territory, wathching for prey, but I got too close to include a lot of habitat in the frame.  In post, I added some real estate from other shots I made at the time, to give this the more expansive feel I wanted.  I like to get close to insects for the detail, but I find now that I am appreciating wider shots to tell the story of the critter.

This dragonfly seemed to be hunting well even though it was carrying dozens of hitch-hiking water mites.

Canon 7D2; Sigma 150mm. Macro + 1.4X TC
1/320 sec. @ f/9; ISO 320, on monopod
Four exposures hand-blended to get most of the wings in focus (I shoot fast bursts when the subject or camera are moving, and I often find that some of the exposures have parts of the subject in sharper focus than others, so I use the best parts.)

Comments

5 comments
Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on September 30, 2015 at 7:35 AM

Hi Wayne,

I like how the perch dissolves into the greenery at the bottom.  The CP has some excellent detail best viewed in the larger version. The hand blending appears to have worked well in capturing all the details...................Jim

 

ps.: I like your loon photo from the Why Nature Photography-Volume I. One of many gems I saw in the clipcrying.........JEZ

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Seaver on September 30, 2015 at 7:04 PM

I think this view works very well, Wayne.  The df is nicely sharp, wingtip to wingtip (and that's hard), and large enough to show good details.  The background fits well also.  That is an amazing collection of mites, where it looks like the mites have mites.  There does look to be a processing glitch above the first node from the bottom and the oof leaf hanging down from the lowest branching point.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments
Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on October 1, 2015 at 2:35 PM

Well made and processed, Wayne. I wouldn't have known if you hadn't told me.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments
Comment posted by Mark James Ford on October 1, 2015 at 2:39 PM

Hi Wayne, very nice composition, with nice detail and phase out into the foliage at the bottom.  The stem just needs a slight realignment about a quarter of the way up.  With the browns on the right offering a nice counterpoint i would be tempted to just lighten the dark tones on the very right ever so slightly.

Cheers, Mark

Registered on January 16, 2015, 60 Posts, 430 Comments
Comment posted by Richard Teller on October 1, 2015 at 10:50 PM

I lkie the way the perch and the dragonfly just seem to be floating in the image. They standout nicely for the background also. I also like that the whole dragonfly is sharp and infocus.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments