The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic + Technical
About This Image
This year seemed a bit light on dragonflies, but I did manage to catch a few down by the dock. This is a clubtail emerging from the last larval stage for its brief life as an adult. The wings are still tight bundles on its back, but will soon expand as the abdomen shrinks, then it will fly.
Normally I wouldn’t choose one that climbed up the concrete block, but I really liked the angle looking straight down into the water and the slightly menacing aspect.
Feedback Requested
I cleaned up the bg quite a bit and toned down things on the bottom of the river there and I wonder if I went far enough. It’s such a delicate balance to keep things reasonably natural and get rid of distractions. Thoughts? How about the crop? I played with a bunch of those, too.
Processing software: Lr & Ps
Major adjustments: Lr = global changes to even out contrast, correct wb & lens corrections. Ps for a ton of masking with the TK9 panel to maximize the presence of the subject and remove distracting bits. Layer stack attached.
Blending/stacking:
Other notes:
Kris, nice to get this DF at this stage. It looks like it’s left the old exoskeleton and it’s abdomen could be fully developed, so pumping up the wings would be next. It does stand out nicely from the water.
It does look menacing! Interesting to see one at this stage – I never find them this early. The cleanup looks great with the remaining detail in the water a nice feature. And the “sharpening” looks free of artifacts. My only thought would be to go with a vertical frame, or move him off center a bit more to the left, but that’s just an alternative. Very nice capture!
The texture of the perch is very interesting and there’s enough color and pigment patterns in the dragonfly to snare the viewer’s eye. I can see going to a vertical crop which may further strengthen the comp. Well done…Jim
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman - since I live on a river, there are plenty of them emerging around Memorial Day. Prior to living here, I’d never seen their transformation. It’s fascinating and sometimes sad when one emerges with damaged wings. Doomed from the start. Not sure about this one, but it was probably ok.
Kris: My first impression before reading your explanation was, “this is an UGLY bug.” I’ve never seen one in this stage before so I’ve certainly learned something. I’ve seen lots of butterflies hatch and inflate their wings but I had no inkling that was what was going on here. The portrait crop is a major improvement IMO. I’m OK with the perch and I think the BG detail is just right. >=))>
I’m not a post-processing person here so I hope I don’t sound too ridiculous. When I looked at the enlarged version here on the website it looks like, I hope I’m saying this right, I saw some banding or artifacts in the mid section of the creature. Am I seeing things?
Kristen, I see the wing nubs they farther down the back toward the bottom. What I’m seeing look like horizontal lines like banding you would see on a TV screen. They are almost imperceptible. Maybe I zoomed in too much?
Kris, a very original look at a dragonfly. It looks a bit like a peeved puppy, but I guess it’s impatient to get its wings. The vertical crop is definitely better; and I like how we get some environmental detail in the BG. Super shot!
Hm @GEGJr - not sure what you’re seeing, but I can’t and so must think it’s just the pattern on the skin.
Thanks @Mike_Friel - they are so vulnerable at this stage that I wonder if they have any inclination of it or just go through the process as instinct directs.
