I Leaned Out Over The Pond and Met The Dancer

Description: Last Sunday, heavy rain gave way to high overcast with perfect lighting for bug photography. This fairly colorful variable dancer was perched on some sedges out about a foot and a half from shore. So I leaned, and leaned until I was parallel to the insect and fired away. One mistake and I would have gone swimming with the fishes. But I did not take a swim. Out of all the exposures, I liked this one the best due to the flared wings.

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Pertinent technical details or techniques: D850 200mm f4 Micro (1/200 sec at F18, ISO 500) Levels, Brightness & Contrast, crop for comp…Jim

Is this a composite? (focus stacks or exposure blends are not considered composites)

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It is SO HARD to get them doing that. They never telegraph it so bravo for catching it! Also for the whole body in focus, another difficult task. I love the color of this one. Haven’t seen one like it IRL. The perch and background are great to show it off. Pretty terrific. I think you could lose some off the top and not suffer.

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Jim, I haven’t seen one of this color either, so I am enjoying this. So glad that you and your camera didn’t go for a swim. That could have messed up a good day of photography! Nice details and a nice oof BG.

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WOW! What a catch! Perfect environment and wonderful control of DOF.

I’ve often wished for a safety harness I could hook to a tree behind me. In that absence of such a device, I just ordered a T-shirt that proclaims, I’m pretty sure my last words will be “Well, s–t, that didn’t work.”

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Jim, the colors are indeed outstanding. The ones that hang out by my pond seems to prefer perches that are out in the water, so getting close is a challenge.

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