Blue Dasher + RePost

[Jim_Zablotny]

Image

Description: Last week with day time temps in the 90’s, the dragonflies were abundant by the Duck Pond. A female blue dasher landed on a small twig over the water and I took a few shots. Not pleased with the results, I trudged on hoping for a better photo. I did not get anything better, but when I examined thge image in LightRoom, I was amazed at the clarity and cropped it down to give me a fairly good close-up. In the new version, I adjusted exposure, contrast, vibrance, and saturation with Adobe’s Camera Raw Filter. Thank you for critiques…Jim

Specific Feedback Requested:

Pertinent technical details or techniques: D850 200mm f4 Micro (1/200 sec at f16, Iso 800) Topaz DeNoise AI, crop for comp, Levels, reduce blue in BG with Hue & Saturation…Jim

[Vanessa_Hill]

What beautiful details you captured, Jim! I love seeing the little hairs on the face. Nice background too.

[Mike_Friel]

Homer Simpson with designer stubble! Difficult for me not to anthropomorphize this, Jim, especially with that pose and detail. Clone out the upright bit of twig, perhaps, but it’s a lovely macro.

[Egídio (Egídio Leitão)]

Wow, Jim! This is stunning. Everything is breathtaking, from the eye details to the hairs and DOF. I love your photo. Could the saturation reduction you applied have decreased a bit of the color brilliance? I know some of these dragonflies and damselflies can have quite intense colors. This is an amazing macro!

[Mark_Seaver]

Jim, the details in her face are excellent. It’s also a challenge to get them without their wings covering some (or all) of the eyes. Your comp. choice works very well.

[Shirley_Freeman]

A nice angle on this one, Jim. Very nice details in his eyes. I’m wondering if you were to darken his face and eyes, or maybe add a bit of contrast to that area, if it would improve this even more. It appears like it was shot in harsh light. Maybe even darken the perch as well. I wouldn’t want the BG any darker though. Just a thought. Still a very nice shot as posted.

[Allen_Sparks]

Hi Jim,
Superb details on the face - tough to do (for me anyway). Nice wing position surrounding the head but not blocking. I agree with Shirley on darkening the subject and perch and perhaps adding some saturation. Nice frame.

[Diane_Miller]

Fantastic closeup! The detail in the compound eyes and the fuzzy face is wonderful! I love the closeup crop. I could add a vote for a tiny bit darker but it’s no excellent I hate to suggest anything.

[David_Bostock]

That is just so cool, Jim. Excellent capture.

[Shirley_Freeman]

Jim, I really like the repost. I think it helped this already wonderful image.