Blue Dasher + RePost


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

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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That is just so cool, Jim. Excellent capture.

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

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