New Dragonfly

[Coriena]

Hi

I went outside to see what bugs I could find and there was a dragonfly just looking so pretty.

Please critique these 2 photos and let me know what I have to work on, these shots are straight out of the camera.

100mm macro hand held.

thanking you :)

http://leidana.wreckers.org/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1065&g2_serialNumber=1

http://leidana.wreckers.org/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1062&g2_serialNumber=1

[Froggeh]

You're in Australia aren't you? I'd guess somewhere in NSW from the variety? I'd say you need a slower shutter speed to get a lot more light entering the camera lens - the second photo is much better than the first because the eyes are almost in focus. Your focus is on the wings of the dragonfly and should be (imo) on the eyes. You might also want more depth of field, so stopping down the aperture a bit would help - last but not least I'd change my angle so the stick was less central to the pic - it's more "dragonfly clinging to stick" than "resting dragonfly" pic.

Having said that, I know how hard these little guys are to photo, even with a 300mm lens in bright sunlight, which you seem not to have had! Took me 15 minutes or so to get pics of the last one I stalked!

[joedlh]

Interesting pose. Was it windy? One of the wings looks bent back.

Needs some post processing. If you look at the histogram, you're only using 1/2 the tonal range. I adjusted levels. It could use some other touching up.

[Nick G]

nice touch to the image! maiking it lighter pulls real depth into the image.

[RbnDave]

Both photos are underexposed. Also they could use some more contrast, a curves adjustment in photoshop would help.

Normally I am not a fan of direct flash, but with a marco shot like this it would work well.

Also, think about the background. Some greenery would be nice or else totally white would work. What you have is gray with distracting stripes.

[Grimlock]

Interesting pose. Was it windy? One of the wings looks bent back.

Well judging by the EXIF data, I'd say ...

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 40D
Image Date: 2009:01:01 08:04:50
Flash Used: No
Wind: Average gustspeed 0.7 MPH SSW
Focal Length: 100.0mm
CCD Width: 22.25mm
Exposure Time: 0.0050 s (1/200)
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO equiv: 400
White Balance: Auto

Cameras now-a-days. :lol:

[Coriena]

Thanks for the replies guys, the background is my house, sorry about that :p

It actually wasn't windy at that point, every time he landed that's how his wing went.

I have a 70 - 300 IS but was stalking for bugs and stumbled on him.

I'm just north of Brisbane as well, so maybe he took the scenic tour? :D

Thank you again for the replies will definitely take them on board next time I find a dragonfly, I really want to improve and get more shots of these fellas.

[joedlh]

Grim, you need to update with the new firmware. It shows relative humidity, barometric pressure, percentage cloud cover, temperature, and whether or not the photographer forgot to brush his teeth that morning. Amazing stuff.;)