I ventured out with Jenny, Badger and Zero to our friend’s farm pond in the hopes of snagging some macro shots. While Jenny did some water training with the dogs, I hunted for insects with the hope of getting some odonate photos. I ran into a pair of calico pennant dragonflies and found where they perched for a short period of time. I carefully folded away some wild carrot stems, and the dragonflies continued to perch on a stem of equisetum. Initial shots had too shallow of a DOF. After making some adjustments, I was rewarded with a few keepers.
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D850 200mm f4 Micro (1/320 sec at f16, ISO 640,) Vertical crop, used TK’s linear profile on shadows & highlights, tweaked up brightness % contrast…Jim
Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)
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Wow, Jim, what a great shot. Excellent detail in both of them. I love the smooth oof BG, and how you have a couple of the stems like the they are on, lower and further back, oof just enough to not distract, but lets us know that it is more of the stems. The square crop works for me. I’m glad you and Jenny and the pups (I’m guessing) were able to get out around the pond and enjoy what each enjoys doing. Always nice to be able to do that.
Wow indeed!! Such gorgeous dragonflies and the horsetail is a very pleasing perch for them, echoing the browns/tans and grays in the dragonflies. The OOF ones in the BG are a perfect touch. I agree with @Bill_Fach that a bit more on the bottom would be good if you have it. I’d add that just a touch more contrast might be good.
Thank you @Bill_Fach, @Diane_Miller, @Shirley_Freeman for the critiques. Yes, the bottom is pretty and I may have a few that have more space. This one was super sharp, so I posted this over the others. The contast is a bit flat and @Diane_Miller’s tweak in contrast looks good…Jim
Jim, a mating pair of any dragonfly on Horsetail is so indicative of a wetlands. The details loof great and the low contrast lets the in-focus elements dominate the viewing.
Thank you @Shirley_Freeman, @Bill_Fach, @Diane_Miller, and @Mark_Seaver for your critiques. I found another image in the series that has more space on the bottom, although slightly less DOF. I added a tiny amount of High Pass sharpening to it, a curves adjustment to bolden the contrast, and Topaz Detail for tweaks to shadows and Highlights. The temp is warmer in this one too…Jim
I like the second one better, too. The placement of the horsetails in the background is nice. Terrific sharpness and shapes here. Around here right now the damselflies are doing this, too.
