Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
This Variable Dancer (it’s the “northern” subspecies A. f. violacea, with clear wings) was hunting near the ground in a patch of sunlight near my pond. This is an 8 shot stack (full frame) to get the damsel entirely sharp.
R5, 180mm macro, 1/100 s, f/11, iso 800, tripod
Oh wow, Mark, she is a real beauty. One of my favorite colors too. I didn’t know they came in this color. You are so good at the stacking. Maybe one day I will give it a whirl. Glad she held still for you. Nice BG to make her stand out too.
Hi Mark,
wow, that looks amazing. I never saw a dragonfly with this color.
The DOF is great. Very nice details.
Well done!
Very well done, Mark! Does the Canon do focus stacking for you or was this a manual focus stack? I can’t imagine doing it fast enough manually, unless that dragonfly sat there a while. Mine don’t seem to do that. Very nice DOF, exposure, it’s a great photo!
@brenda_tharp , Yes the new Canon’s have built in stacking, which makes stacking much, much easier & faster. At 1/100 s, it takes less a second for 8 frames. While you don’t see it here, this one was munching on a tiny flying insect, so it wasn’t going away until it finished its snack.
Amazing color on this and very well done with the stacking. The background has a nice complementary color as well. Wish we had one’s like these in Sweden.
Thanks, Mark! I use Sony, my partner uses Nikon which does the focus stacking, so it’s good to know that Canon’s mirrorless are doing that, too. My sony A1 does NOT have it, sadly, will have to buy the A7 IV to get that…sigh.
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Excellent, Mark. I’ve never seen a damselfly this color; what a treat. You are going to force me into trying focus stacking one of these days. This is absolutely striking.
Really nice Mark - the stacking worked very well. Love the look at this beauty and such a nice color. I think the BG goes well too. Nicely done.
I see this species along the shore of the duck pond and they are a very photo-worthy species like the one that you photographed. The tight comp works well, especially for damselflies because they seem to disappear when photographed from a greater distance. Colors, focus, and post processing are spot on. I think that this one is a keeper. Well done…Jim
Gorgeous capture!! Also a new one to me.
@brenda_tharp, in my Canon R5 the menu item (Red Menu 5) is Focus Bracketing. You can set the number of shots and a “coarseness scale” which will use the aperture to calculate the space between steps. I think some Olympus and Panasonic cameras have a built-in “stacking” where the camera does the actual processing and returns a JPEG, but can also save the individual files.
@Mark_Seaver, do any Canons have that capability? I’m not finding it.
Really nice image of this uniquely colored Damselfly, Mark! 
The color probably isn’t unique in your area but it’s unique for me, I haven’t seen any this color here in NC
The brightness and the exposure looks really good and the BG color compliments the Damselfly in a very pleasing way!
The pose and the composition is spot on in my view.
Nice work!
