Variegated Meadowhawk

[Paul Sparks]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7125/7768985660_d42c54cf20_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookguy/7768985660/)

Nikon D300s Sigma 150-500mm @ 500mm, f/14, 1/400s, ISO 500, no flash, handheld and manual exposure.

Taken in Door County, Wisconsin with the fading light.

[Randy Stout]

Paul:

Lovely background colors, good dof on the wings.
There is quite a bit of noise in the BG, unusual in the D300s at this ISO. Did you need to bring up the exposure in post?

The 'blurry" effect of the eye is a bit distracting. I know there are sharp areas all around it, so it isn't a focus issue, but still stands out.

Cheers

Randy

[Paul Sparks]

Thank you Randy. The noise might be from cropping, as I didn't need to correct the exposure at all. The eye bothered me as well, but I've noticed that in other dragonfly photos and I'm not sure what causes that.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Lovely colorful capture, Paul. I think there is a little too much room to the right, and maybe too little to the left. Since you say this is a crop, that may be an easy fix. I'd consider cropping as a vertical if possible. A slightly different angle would have given you a sharp tail.
Re. the eye: this is a general characteristic of dragonfly eyes. They are slightly translucent, with the colored spots lying somewhat deeper in the eye, giving the impression of being slightly OOF. In addition to that, the AF systems of most cameras I know have a tendency to catch on to the thorax, probably because this is the "lumpiest" part of the dragonfly. It appears that this was the case here as well. When I'm shooting dragonflies, I tend to use MF for this reason.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Paul and welcome to the Macro Forum! I like the golden light and the pose. You have some good comments above to consider. I would agree with applying some nr to the background to smooth it out. You have good sharpness within your DOF, but you might try some additional selective sharpening on the eye to see if that helps. The whites look pretty bright to me - if they are not blown, you might try toning them down a little. Overall, you have a strong image and I think a few tweaks will make it even better! I hope to see more of your macro work!

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Paul,

A pleasing image overall with good suggestions for improvement mentioned above and I don't have much to add other than to suggest checking for sensor spots - I think I see a couple in the BG. Still, a nice image - TFS.

Allen