Does this dragon do it for you???

[Leorooster]

This is the same black dragonfly that I took during the weekend. I didn't focus on the eyes. I was trying to create a different perspective of the dragonfly. However, the longer I look at this shot, the more I feel wrong about it. What do you think about this one and is it a must to focus on the eyes??? It just bothers me:( .


EDIT: Sorry I posted a wrong pic b4, it's fixed now:p

[Dragonslayer]

Nice shot here, and you ask what you think about and do you focus on the eyes, I would say yes make sure the eyes are sharp as they are key in any image but the eye here is very dark and I might have used the area where the wing muscles attached to the body and the focus point as you have the wing leading ones eye into that area, the eyes are always great to have sharp but this shot is as you said more a perspective shot and rules are meant to be bent and sometimes broken in the sake of art.

I think a slightly longer exposure here would have helped more to lighten the image some and allow one to see more through the wings and into the thorax here, but not sure if you could have pulled off that much DOF a shot like this with a close focusing 50mm would most likely carry that much DOF

[Bald Eagle]

Nice shot here, and you ask what you think about and do you focus on the eyes, I would say yes make sure the eyes are sharp as they are key in any image but the eye here is very dark and I might have used the area where the wing muscles attached to the body and the focus point as you have the wing leading ones eye into that area, the eyes are always great to have sharp but this shot is as you said more a perspective shot and rules are meant to be bent and sometimes broken in the sake of art.

I think a slightly longer exposure here would have helped more to lighten the image some and allow one to see more through the wings and into the thorax here, but not sure if you could have pulled off that much DOF a shot like this with a close focusing 50mm would most likely carry that much DOF
I agree with Dragonslayer.

[altranet0]

nevertheless, a wonderful shot, thats one hell of a dragonfly

[Leorooster]

Thanks everyone for your kind inputs and comments. It seems like focusing the eye is very important, and I agree 100% with it. It's just that from time to time, as Eric mentioned, the rules are meant to be broken.

I tried the suggestion to expose it longer (good thing that I shot in raw);) , and I think it looks better. Unfortunately, not much I can do with the DOF at this point. Even when I took the shot, I almost went to the limit. I took the shot at 1/100 sec, ISO 200 & f/16. Maybe what I should have done is to bump to the ISO to give me more DOF, but I am just not a big fan of high ISO (unless it's absolutely necessary, otherwise I would leave it at 200). Anyway, here is the revised one.

Thanks again for your inputs and comments. I feel better now.:)

[Dragonslayer]

One thing to remember here is that your depth of feild is 1/3rd in front and 2/3rds behind the focus point and you can use that to your advantage when manually focusing by moving the focus point forward or in towards the camera, I do think the brighter version is nicer here and you can see more through the wings here I think you could even crank it up a little more and not be over to much on the few white areas here. The DOF you will have to experiment with to see what works for you and the bigger the lens such as the bigma at 500mm that rule seems to split the DOF rule to 50/50.

[Leorooster]

One thing to remember here is that your depth of feild is 1/3rd in front and 2/3rds behind the focus point and you can use that to your advantage when manually focusing by moving the focus point forward or in towards the camera, I do think the brighter version is nicer here and you can see more through the wings here I think you could even crank it up a little more and not be over to much on the few white areas here. The DOF you will have to experiment with to see what works for you and the bigger the lens such as the bigma at 500mm that rule seems to split the DOF rule to 50/50.

Thanks Eric. A long range lens is my next target. Hope to get one soon!:)