I found this dragonfly at a local pond yesterday morning. He let me get up close with my macro lens and flash.
He pulled his wings forward and down so you see his front wings on either side of his face. The backdrop of the image is his back wings.
Any
Is this a composite: No
Canon 7D2, Sigma 150 f2.8 macro, Sigma 1.4x teleconverter, Canon 430 EX II speedlite (manual @ 1/8 power)
ISO 400, f32, 1/250s, hand held
Very nice, Allen. Sometimes these guys let us get closer than other times. Glad he posed so nicely for you. Great details in the eyes, and you managed the flash really well.
You guys are inspiring me to get a flash & learn to use it with nature photography. Just amazing detail you have in this one. And the way the wings frame that face is terrific. So glad it posed for you.
@Shirley_Freeman @Kris_Smith
Thank you for the comments!
Kris, the flash powered down in manual mode makes it possible to get sharp hand held images at these settings. The image would be totally black without the flash and I’d guesstimate the flash duration here would be about 1/8000s.
Beautiful portrait , Allen! I love all the details of the eyes and that was the first thing I noticed were the wings on each side framing him, really neat!
Hi Allen,
A very nice detailed look at this guy. One thing that is worth noting is that your flash was set perfectly to provide the subtle highlights without blowing out the details and provided some nice fill. An awesome close-up…Jim
Amazing, Allen. Next on my wish list is a flash to go with my macro lens. Incredible detail and color balance. Nicely done.
Very impressive! Me too, inspiring me to bring a flash with me
So, how close is “close”?
Absolutely wonderful!! The effective shutter speed of the flash does help with hand holding but you get a heap of praise from me for getting the plane of focus on those amazing eyes!
The aperture here on an APS-C sensor is well within what is commonly cautioned to lead to diffraction softening, but I don’t see any hint of it.
Thank you for the comments everyone!
@Mark_Muller , I’d guess I was about ten inches from the dragonfly when I took this shot. And that’s ten inches from the end of my lens hood.
Very nice head shot Allen, not easy to do HH and the lighting looks very natural.
Allen,to love this image, one has to view it large…and its a cracker. Love that fantastic detail you have achieved on those eyes. I would like to know if you used enough diffusion on this…
Beautiful work.
Balan Vinod
