Under attack

This weekend when I was out photographing wildflowers I ran into a group of dragonflies. With the camera to my eye I tried to get closer when suddenly the dragonfly was attacked by an insect (the black blob on the opposite side of its head). During one second the dragonfly then flapped its wings without lifting off. I just pressed the shutter release and hoped for the best.

Since I still was to far away, and not yet had finetuned the focus, the image has been heavily cropped and I had to sharpen the image during the post-processing (Topaz Labs Sharpen AI). This will show up if you zoom in, but anyhow I thought the image was worth sharing.

Specific Feedback Requested

Any comments are welcome!

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
f/6.3, 1/400, ISO 400, Olympus lens 40-150 at 150 mm (300 mm equiv.), Olympus camera OM-D E-M1X (mft system), handheld

3 Likes

What a wonderful story, Ola, and I just love his wing position. The colors are great, and I like that he is standing on a leaf. Sure sorry your photo op got interrupted by an insect. Still looks nice if you don’t get into the details. Thank you for sharing.

Beautiful image, Ola! I love how the wings are kind of shimmery. Really neat last minute capture!

A wonderful capture – great reflexes!

Ola I love the color and the leaf and the subject making a great color contrast photo. Excellent

So lovely and such saturation - intense. I’ve never seen one quite like this. Great grab! However you saved the final image, it was worth it.

Ola, a very unique image and good for you. The wings and their patterns are pretty special. Lovely colors as well.

Great capture, Ola. Love the slight movement in the wings and the beautiful blue colors. Very nicely seen.

@Shirley_Freeman, @Diane_Miller, @linda_mellor, @Kris_Smith, @Vanessa_Hill, @Dean_Salman and @David_Leroy thanks for your kind comments.

1 Like

Ola: An intriguing and compelling image. I like what the AI processing has produced. Exceptional shot. >=))>

Ola, the iridescent blue colors in this damselfly (I think) are great especially against the green background. If this were in North America, I’d look for this in the Jewelwing Damselfly family (Calopteryx). If this is like our Ebony Jewelwing, the colors change from blue to green depending on the angle between you, the damsel and the light. The details in the wings are excellent.

@Mark_Seaver and @Bill_Fach thanks for your kind comments. Mark, thanks for pointing out the family, I am not an expert.

Really stunning photo, Ola. I especially love the detail and color of the wings.

Thanks @lars, glad you liked it.