Southern Hawker (m)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Monopod Canon 7D Canon 180mm macro ISO 500 1/250 sec f8
This is probably the most uncooperative dragonfly I have ever managed to photograph!" It took ages to get this shot and despite following it for nearly an hour this was the best perch I could get the image taken on,. I had to do quite a bit of PP to clean up the background. I also lowered the brightness of the rose branch considerably.
All C&C welcome.

[Mitch Haimov]

Another fine dragon image, Jonathan. Very interesting coloration on the abdomen and thorax. Wings look great, interesting diagonal perch, BG works well. Nearly everything other than BG appears sharp, except that the tip of the abdomen seems a bit soft.

Your "Borown hawker oviposting" post is closed. Intentional, or some kind of error? Anyway, I like it quite a lot. I enjoy the unusual perspective, and the interesting behavior is a plus. I think applying Steve's edge clean up suggestions would make a fine image even better.

[Jonathan Ashton]

H Mitch, thanks for letting me know, I have hopefully reopened the thread on the Brown hawker - I don't know how it was closed??
Thanks for the comments.

[Nancy Bell]

I envy your availability of dragonflies! Despite your frustrations with the perch and bkgd, this turned out quite nicely. The dragonfly is at a good angle to the perch and you are at a good angle to the insect, and all the details are sharp.

[Anita Bower]

I love the patterns and colors on the body of this dragonfly. Also the colors of the wings, and those bits of orange. A lovely dragonfly. Considering all the work and persistence required, I think it turned out well.

[christopher galeski]

agree with Nancy's comments,very nice capture.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks very much everyone.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jon. I can appreciate that some species of dragonflies, especially the darners (maybe the same as what you are calling hawkers?), do not like to have their pictures taken. :S3: In this case, your persistence paid off nicely! You captured the dragonfly with good sharpness and I like the diagonals of both the perch and dragonfly. If anything, I might suggest trying to tone down the perch a little more. This is well done!