Frankly, I was rather surprised in post to see that I had captured great detail in this dragonfly considering I wasn’t using a macro lens.
Anything and everything.
Is this a composite: No
D810, 80-400 @400mm, f/9, 1/400, ISO 400
Processing was 50/50 ACR/PS. I did do both a lights mask for the BG to tone it down, yet leave enough of a backlight for effect and a darks mask for the body of the dragonfly.
That’s really nice, Chris. I especially like the background highlighting the dragonfly.
Chris, I do like the white highlighted area right behind the dragonfly, making him stand out so nicely. Yes, a telephoto lens, like the one you used here can give you a macro shot from a bit of a distance, which is handy for flighty subjects.
I use my 100-400mm to stalk bugs all the time. Makes a great ‘macro’ lens from a distance. I like this for the detail you got and also the backlighting and halo of OOF background. The little head turn is nice, too. I love the way the flick their heads around, taking everything in, missing nothing. Nice job.
Thanks, Kris, Shirley and David
Very nice, with lovely detail! The lighting is wonderful and the spider web is the grace note! The lens gave you good bokeh – used in its originally intended sense of the quality of the OOF highlights.
