Battle tested (+revised)

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

Revised Version

Revision 1 (latest)

What changed: Changed dark area on left

Added after receiving feedback from the community.

---

Original Version

Critique Style: Standard

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

It was a little windy when I put the kayak in a small (25 acre) lake on Wednesday. It’s right next to a lovely White Cedar swamp section of trail with winding boardwalk. By themselves, each activity would only take a couple of hours with my usual stops for pics. Together, they make for a nice two-fer day and I’m glad I got out to do it. Since the trail and the lake share a parking lot, it’s kind of a no-brainer. Lots of insects got in front of the camera including this Blue dasher.

One of the things that’s helping me get my photo mojo back is to only work at a shot if I think it can be better than one I’ve done before. Better is subjective, but the way I frame it is both technically and artistically. If I’ve taken a really good (dare I say excellent) photo of something in the past and the same subject crosses my path, I stop and think whether I can do better. If not, I pass it by only marveling at its existence. There are some exceptions, but Blue Dashers aren’t one of them since they are everywhere this time of year and I have shot them well before.

So after a few pit stops on this tiny lake, I was in a position where there were several perches to choose from and this boy kept landing here. The thing was the backlighting and the breeze ruffling up his wings. Sounds all good, right? But that same wind moved the boat all over as well as lifting his wings. Still, I persisted and concentrated on his position and wing shapes. Thank the technology goddess for dual image stabilization! I can always tell when it gets switched off on the lens it’s that good.

Anyway…I think this shot qualifies for a better photo of a Blue Dasher than I already have. The light glinting off his wings, the intense breeding colors, the uniform background and the fluttery wings. So next time I’m in the midst of them, something amazing has to happen before I bother again.

Feedback Requested

So…thoughts on the processing please. I have room around to change the crop. I didn’t show more of the perch because, while a little bit fun, his shadow on the lily pad was distracting. I also have some other frames with him more directly facing me and with his wings down.

Technical Details

Camera: Panasonic DC-G9M2
Lens: LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3
Focal length: 400mm
Shutter speed: 1/1250s
Aperture: f/6.3
ISO: 500

Tripod/handheld: Handheld in the kayak
Focus method: SAF w/focus peaking
Filters: Polarizer (just for you, Bill)
Technique: Elbows braced and kind of hunched over toward the decking to be lower
Conditions: Dratted wind

Processing software: Lr
Major adjustments: Global smoothing of dynamic range plus some texture & sharpening. Masked our boy and boosted exposure and shadows, masked the leaf and brought the exposure down as well as saturation, Cropped to this size with a little rotation to eliminate dark water under the leaf.
Blending/stacking:
Other notes:

[Mike_Friel]

That super focus on the head draws us immediately to the subject. The wings are clearly separated and the colors are very fine, especially the contrast of dasher and BG. The one change I’d suggest is to clone out the black splotch on the left edge. A bit could be left - faintly - as we see running across the BG, but the darkest bit did pull my eye. I think you cropped the perch so well; and I do love this little creature as it seems to grin at its secret thoughts.

[Diane_Miller]

YO! This is excellent!! The colors are intense but not overdone, and the pose and perch wonderful. More DOF on the abdomen would be nice but that is easily overlooked as the sharpest parts are so nice! One possibility is a slight burn on the top of the abdomen and maybe a little more brightness on the thorax and head. I second @Mike_Friel on the dark area but overall this is a unique and wonderful image!

[Dennis_Plank]

I really like this image, Kris. The intense blue of those eyes just grabs my eye wonderfully. The shallow depth of field works well in this image and I’m glad the damaged wing is in good focus as it helps tell the story that this one is a veteran by dragonfly standards.
I thought about cropping in a bit more from the left, but that makes the dark patch look more accidental and it would probably have to be removed, whereas with the current crop it’s pretty much a part of the background.

Very well done.

[Bill_Fach]

Kris: Oh this is fine! The light management, selective focus, comp and amount of perch work great IMO.

I get what you’re saying about reinventing the wheel so to speak and there have been times that I’ve passed up shots as well. My only caution is that sometimes in the field I might be unimpressed but if I go ahead and take the shot I may discover some unnoticed detail that may set it apart. In basketball one of my coaches often told me that you never make the shot you don’t take. Of course there were more than a few times he wished I hadn’t shot! I think for the same rationale I often take way too many shots with just tiny variations or I shoot a burst to counter comp/camera movement flaws when hand holding especially. When I was contorting myself and hand holding while shooting my moth the other day I ended up with over 250 captures and ended up deleting about 80% of them. I think sometimes I need to think like the old film days where every shot cost $$$. Our advanced technology does allow us to be profligate with our exposures but OTOH it sure is nice to have image stabilization and fast frame rates that allow images I would never have even attempted in the old days. And BTW, nice use of the polarizer .>=))>

[Allen_Sparks]

Hi Kris, very nice image - so well composed. Love the angle of the bug coming towards us and the inclusion of the top of leaf with a bit of shadow from the dragonfly. Sharpness is spot on - critical focus where it needs to be with a pleasing drop off towards the abdomen. Well done!

[system]

The original poster added a revised version of their image.

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

New shot in the OP.

Thanks @Mike_Friel , @Diane_Miller , @Bill_Fach , @Dennis_Plank & @Allen_Sparks for all your input and kind words. The crop was a tricky one at first, but as soon as I realized the shadow wasn’t working, things got easier. One thing that frustrates me a little is that even with focus peaking engaged, what is marked as being crisp turns out not to be. I may have to adjust the settings in the camera, but sometimes it’s a bummer when I think I got something sharp and it turns out I haven’t.

This boy would cling on in the breeze, happy as anything until a rival came by and off he’d go, returning as soon as the other male was gone. Possibly I should have stopped down more with the lens to get more of him in focus, but I didn’t think of it (doh!), but at least the important bits are crisp. As far as colors go, this is SOOC white balance, which doesn’t always work, but this time got it right.

And yeah, I understand the idea that it’s just 1s and 0s now instead of film and the cost and other limitations associated, but now the price is my time. The thought of going through hundreds of photos from a session just makes me tired sometimes and that’s what’s kept my enthusiasm at bay. Especially when the shot ends up being ho-hum. Like some mushroom stacks I took that while I was doing it I knew weren’t up to scratch. I persisted because it’s been so dry they were the only ones around (thus far), but I shouldn’t have because I won’t work with them and really just should delete everything to clear the deck. I have no plans to go back to film even though I have the gear to do it. I’d never get some of the photos I have without modern tech, so that’s never going to change. I just need to mitigate my apathy, part of which stems from just taking too many pictures.

Oh and to further elaborate on costing me time, it’s not just post-processing, it’s field time. The 1/2 hour or so it took to do the stacks of a mushroom shot I won’t use, kept me from possibly finding something else more worthy. I should have walked away, but it’s part of my learning how to overcome this issue that’s sucking the joy out of photography for me.

[Bill_Fach]

Kris: Your comments about time are spot on and just because we can pop off hundreds of shots doesn’t mean we should. I do enjoy post processing but it’s the weakest of my skills. The capture is still the delight and challenge for me. As for the fine manual focus, I hear you on the peaking issue. One of the reasons I went to Sony mirrorless from my DSLR is that in manual focus a light touch on the focusing ring gives me an immediate magnified view in the EVF. With the new 100mm I can get some incredibly sharp focus, assuming the subject doesn’t move. For a flower it generally works great. I’m going out today hunting dragons so I’ll get a chance to see how well it works if I can get close enough. BTW, the revision is a nice touch for an already outstanding image. >=))>

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

@Bill_Fach

As for the fine manual focus, I hear you on the peaking issue.

So I went to the manual and found this -

So I’ve dialed it to -2 for my wildlife custom mode (there is only + or - 1 or 2). We’ll see if that helps in future. I have some eagle shots that are really similar and the focus peaking showed all were in focus, but only some are. At least there were some.