The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I was making a late afternoon tour of the garden when I spotted this damselfly perching on one of our cacti. It eventually chose a thorn where I could get some flower buds in the BG. It was very still so I did a small stack which for the most part I’m pleased with. It was a little windy so while the cactus didn’t move the damsel did shake a little. >=))>
Specific Feedback
Only used 5 shots for the stack and if you look closely the last ring on the body is just slightly OOF.
Technical Details
Sony A7rIII
Sony FE 70-200 f2.8 GM-II, 2xTC @ 400mm
ISO 400, 1/60 @ f11, 5 shot stack in Helicon focus
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Very cool!! Great work on the stack, perfect perch and BG! I love the crazy spines going in every which direction and then I see that one of them is a little different…
Exceptional detail in the eyes and body here, Bill.
nusual perch tht works peerfectly.
Sharp wings, too - but there is a tiny blip at the very tip of the wings.
Nice stacking work!
Bill, at first, the damsel blends in with the cacti spines. Then with a bit more attention, it shows very well. Those buds in the background add some beautiful color and make this a very inviting image. I see two minor issues with the stack. 1) The stem below the bent spine has a soft bit between two sharp areas…I assume that you’re hand adjusting the focus for that to happen. 2) There’s some tiny bits of black at the wing tips, which I assume are motion artifacts, they can probably be fixed in the stack or cloned out with a tiny brush in post processing.
Mark: Thanks so much for your detailed advice on the stack. When I’m focusing manually I get a magnified view of a small area that I can attend to and I also have a focal distance scale showing in the viewfinder. I’ve tried both exploring the frame with the magnification and just doing tiny focal distance adjustments. Do you have a preferred or alternate method?
When I had to stack manually, I didn’t have the option of magnification with an electronic viewfinder, so all of mine were stricktly manual focus through the optical viewfinder…numerous discards, along with several “choice” epithets!!!..
