Common darters

[Jonathan Ashton]

Monopod Canon 7D Canon 180mm macro ISO 500 1/800 sec f10
These were the first pair I had seen this year and they were taken mid July - very late. They paid a lightning visit to my garden pond, mated and laid a few eggs and flew off, luckily I was there photographing damselflies so I was ready. The sedge was near the water's edge and the background is out of focus grasses. Usually the male (uppermost) is a more red colour. I used Bridge/Camera Raw and CS6 but I also checked a conversion using DPP which was just as well, it encouraged me to enhance the contrast a little bit in the Bridge/Camera Raw this brought out more detail in the insect's bodies.
All C&C welcome.

[christopher galeski]

very nice Jonathan beautiful image,nice depth of field in the darters,sharp,nice light.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jon. Very cool behavior captured! Very nice light plus excellent sharpness and DOF on your subjects. My only comment would be to consider toning down the brightest areas of the background a little more. Overall, this is outstanding!

[Diane Miller]

The sharpness and detail here is amazing and wonderful!! (Not to mention a spectacular subject and decisive moment!)

I think toning down the saturated yellow on the far left would take it from a 99 to a 101.

[Mitch Haimov]

Congrats on capturing the moment. This image looks like it should have a DOF problem, but the subjects are nicely sharp. Composition works well. I, too, think the dragons would pop even more if the BG were a little less vivid.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thank you for the comments everyone.