Dragons Everywhere.

[Bald Eagle]

There were quite a few Dragonflies out today, here is the first one, he was approx. 3 ft away. hope you like.:D

[Bald Eagle]

Here is a second one. I wish he would have picked a cleaner leaf, oh well, hope you like, this one was about 4ft away.:D

[kallousa]

Man you are doing very well with your new lens. Excellent shots.

Regards

[Bald Eagle]

Man you are doing very well with your new lens. Excellent shots.

Regards
Thank you very much, I'm slowly getting used to it, I may finally be getting the hang of it.:D ;) :D

[JonathanS]

as usual, your pictures are amazing, a question though; when post-processing, how much USM do you normally use? I know it really depends on the picture, but if it is out-of-camera in focus and you are just touching up, how much? And also do you use color saturation?

[Bald Eagle]

Thanks for the kind words and the interest, when it comes to USM, I'm very selective when I use it, I dont do more than one pass, and the setting on that is low, When I'm processing the photo, First I zoom in and see what I kind of detail I have achieved, If the eyes are off, I delete the photo. I truly do try to get the sharpest possible focus in the field, I usually take 3 to 5 photos and adjust the focus as needed. As far as saturation goes, I'm very selective on that as well, most of the shots I post are without saturation, Thanks again.:D :D

[mebailey]

Awesome BE. My DFs never lok that good. You have a real way of getting those eyes in focus. Do you shoot these in RAW or jpeg? How much USM do you use?

[Bald Eagle]

Awesome BE. My DFs never lok that good. You have a real way of getting those eyes in focus. Do you shoot these in RAW or jpeg? How much USM do you use?
Thanks very much for the very kind words. Right now I'm shooting in jpeg, someday soon i may go to RAW. as far as USM, I find if you do more than one pass, you start to lose detail. I have practiced many many times aiming for the eyes. :D :D

[dancinec]

Nice shots, BE, did you have to make any flash adjustments with the new lens from the one you use previously? Or did you just substitute the new lens and kept your old f-stop, shutter speed and iso?

[Mitcon]

Bald, those are stunning. The colours are just awesome and so beautiful. Always great shots, well done

[BigAl-SA]

Great work on both BE. You really are giving that new lens a good workout :)

[Darryl Baptista]

Great shots,quite a photogenic dragon, did you use a flash in the second one. Darryl

Canon EOS 350D, EF S18-55mm f / 3.5-5.6, EF 55-200mm f / 4.5-5.6 USM, Speedlite 480EX

[Bald Eagle]

Nice shots, BE, did you have to make any flash adjustments with the new lens from the one you use previously? Or did you just substitute the new lens and kept your old f-stop, shutter speed and iso?
Thanks for the kind words. Actually I had to make several adjustments. I now shoot in 400 ISO, still use 1/125 ,f/11. Most of the time, depending on lighting and distance. As far as lighting, its still pretty much the same. thanks very much for the interest.:D :D

[Bald Eagle]

Bald, those are stunning. The colours are just awesome and so beautiful. Always great shots, well done
Thanks very much for your kind words. They are always very much appreciated.:D :D :D

[Bald Eagle]

Great work on both BE. You really are giving that new lens a good workout :)
Thanks BigAl-SA, yup, I'm doing my best to work with the new lens and get familiar with it.:D

[Bald Eagle]

Great shots,quite a photogenic dragon, did you use a flash in the second one. Darryl

Canon EOS 350D, EF S18-55mm f / 3.5-5.6, EF 55-200mm f / 4.5-5.6 USM, Speedlite 480EX
Thanks Darryl, for the kind words. Both of the dragons were quite patient with me, and yes, I did use flash on both actually.:D :D

[RockOne]

Two more superb dragonfly shots.

[dimman]

Good shooting in general!!
I think you overdo with the flash a bit! I mean the shadows are very sharp and the highlight especially on the blue dragonfly looks a bit unrealistic! They look like they have been heavily post-processed!
This takes away their natural environmental ambience.

dimman:)

[sw2001]

These are beautiful colored ones.

[Bald Eagle]

Two more superb dragonfly shots.
Thanks ROckOne, These were very photogenic, they were curious about the new lens as well.:D ;) :D

[Bald Eagle]

Good shooting in general!!
I think you overdo with the flash a bit! I mean the shadows are very sharp and the highlight especially on the blue dragonfly looks a bit unrealistic! They look like they have been heavily post-processed!
This takes away their natural environmental ambience.

dimman:)
Thanks for the kind words, as far as the flash goes, I'm still trying to find just the right balance, it used to be inches away from me, now I'm working with distances of 2 to 5 feet. On the Blue dragon, The body appeared to have a velvet sheen to it, I actually toned it down before I posted it. I actually am in favor of the natural look also, but, I'm always trying for different angles and looks as well, call it experimental photography.:D :D :D

[Leorooster]

Okay, dragons everywhere in your world, but nowhere in mine;) I haven't gone out for shooting for a while. Not only the bugs are dieing out here, but my back pain also prevents me from going anywhere:cry: The good thing is I still can see all these beautiful creatures from you guys. Great shots and keep them coming!

[Bald Eagle]

Okay, dragons everywhere in your world, but nowhere in mine;) I haven't gone out for shooting for a while. Not only the bugs are dieing out here, but my back pain also prevents me from going anywhere:cry: The good thing is I still can see all these beautiful creatures from you guys. Great shots and keep them coming!
Sorry your back is not doing good, Hopefully it will get better real soon.
Rest up for the winter shots, You have all that great snow, we get rain.:D