Used a few different masks to bring down the exposure of the bodies and branch, bring up the wings slightly. Thought it would be fiddly with the damsels themselves but a subtract with luminosity range worked well -
Just to jump on the insects having sex bandwagon, this is the only shot I’ve ever gotten of damselflies doing the deed. They were so into it that I passed by them a couple of times in the kayak before backing up and taking this shot. I guess if they didn’t spook twice they wouldn’t when I got the long lens out. If it hadn’t had this background of water, I probably wouldn’t have tried since they are so small. These look to be familiar bluets (Enallagma civile).
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Eh, I’m still not happy with the sharpness, but I may be expecting too much. You can see a mite on Romeo there. Tried to line up the focal plane to the bugs, but not sure I got it. And I know that branch is a bit much, but I took it WAY down and I think this is a good compromise, but what do I know?
Technical Details
Handheld in the kayak, shallow water and not much wind.
Lr for basics - really just taming the huge dynamic range because they will do it in the sun. Some wb adjustment as well. Topaz, but I can’t recall if it was Denoise or Sharpen and this fall they won’t be separates anymore so it won’t matter. Photoshop for some distraction removal in the background which is water.
Kris, that is amazing that you captured this from a kayak and got the sharpness. Not sure I would have noticed those little guys while in a kayak! They are tiny. Nicely done.
Classic heart-shaped pose – how appropriate!! Good DOF. I wonder if there is a further way to tame the dynamic range since you did what you could in LR. It’s not blown, but still a bit strong. The dark BG can be blamed.
Interesting, your female here looks like the male, which mine did in my “drowning sequence” pose of a few days ago. In other shots the F looks more brownish but I saw somewhere that in some cases the F can look more like the M.
No problem with the sharpness that I can see. I see Diane’s point about the dynamic range, but I wouln’t touch the background. Not only does that dark rich colour set off the happy couple so well, but it has such beautiful ripples. It’s rare to see mating damsels or dragons isolated so well - so this is a big hit in my book!
Thanks @Diane_Miller & @Mike_Friel - I went through a few dozen shots to pick the sharpest along the whole length of them and thought I might have to focus stack, but I didn’t and am glad it looks good. You know how hard it can be sorting and comparing - eventually you can’t really “see” anything objectively.
Reduced the brightness of the pair and the stick in the OP. Still look natural?
Thanks, D. I thought the wings were getting a little lost. Also took the saturation on the damsels down a bit. Darkening always increases it so it looked cartoonish. Dragonfly season is drawing to a close here. Stragglers remain, but most of them have died off already. Leaves are starting to fall and there are a few yellow saplings too.
